Enzyme immunoassay screening procedure for the synthetic anabolic estrogens and androgens diethylstilbestrol, nortestosterone, methyltestosterone and trenbolone in bovine urine

Immunoassays are often used for the screening of anabolic residues in edible tissues and excreta (urine, faeces) from inspected animals. Radioimmunoassays have been used for ten years for the determination in biological samples of the main natural and synthetic anabolic estrogens and androgens. In order to simplify the sample preparation and analysis and to reduce the cost, competitive enzyme immunoassays (EIA) were developed for the main synthetic anabolics used illegally in livestock fattening. EIA are based on a competition between the analyte (hormone or metabolite) and the enzyme-labelled hormone for binding to specific antibodies immobilized in wells of a microtitration plate. Two enzymes were evaluated: horseradish peroxidase (HRP) and Bacillus licheniformis beta-lactamase (BLL) using hydrogen peroxide-o-phenylenediamine or benzylpenicillin-starch-iodine as substrates, respectively. The same derivative was used for chemical coupling of the hormone to enzyme (tracer preparation) and to bovine serum albumin to produce specific antibodies in rabbits. Hormone doses that inhibited 50% of the tracer (HRP-hormone) binding to antibody (ID50) were 18, 8, 6 and 11 pg per well for diethylstilbestrol, nortestosterone, methyltestosterone and trenbolone, respectively. These values were lower than those observed in RIA. The reproducibility and accuracy of EIA in urine analysis were similar to those of RIA. Very small amounts of urine were needed (2.5 microliters). This simple method may require less than 2 h. With the BLL-hormone tracer, the enzymatic activity remaining in the wells and hence the hormone content of the sample could be estimated with the naked eye using benzylpenicillin-starch-iodine as substrate.