Adaptation of fluorescence polarization immunoassay to the assay of macromolecules.

Abstract This paper describes an original methodology for determining macromolecular antigen levels by polarization of fluorescence. It involves the use of fluorescent derivatives of Fab fragments of a monoclonal antibody ( M r 50,000), whose fluorescence polarization rises significantly when it combines with a macromolecular antigen. An experimental system (Fab anti-aldosterone and aldosterone-bovine serum albumin (BSA)) is studied to test this methodology, which was then used to develop an immunoassay for human immunoglobulin M (IgM), using anti-μ chain Fabs. In the two assays, the binding stoichiometry of Fab/antigen was 10 1 and 8 1 for aldosterone-BSA and IgM, respectively. The lower limit of detection of the IgM assay was 0.8 μg/ml and thus it was applicable to clinical detection of IgM concentrations.