COMPARISON OF THE ABILITY OF BETA-GALACTOSIDASE AND HORSERADISH-PEROXIDASE ENZYME-ANTIBODY CONJUGATES TO DETECT SPECIFIC ANTIBODIES

The ability of two different enzyme-antibody conjugates to detect specific antibodies has been compared. β-Galactosidase was conjugated to antibodies raised against rabbit Fc fragments using m-maleimidobenzoyl-N-hydroxysuccinimide ester (MBS). Horseradish peroxidase (HRP) was conjugated to part of the same batch of antibodies using the periodate method. The β-galactosidase and the HRP labels enabled detection of approximately 8 fmoles and 4 fmoles respectively of human growth hormone (HGH) antibodies, when their enzyme activities were measured spectrophotometrically. The detection limit of the β-galactosidase label was increased 4-fold when a fluorimetric detection system was employed. © 1979.