Validation of immunoassays for the measurement of some steroids in saliva

ABSTRACT

Non-isotopic immunoassays of serum estradiol and testosterone have been successfully applied for their measurement in saliva. The accuracy and precision of enzyme [EIA], time resolved fluoroimmunoassays [TR-FIA] and enhanced chemiluminescence [CL] for the measurement of salivary estradiol and testosterone as compared with radioimmunoassay [RIA] have been studied. All the studied techniques gave quite satisfactory variation coefficients, and correlated well with RIA. The limits of detection of direct EIA of salivary estradiol, and TRFIA of salivary estradiol and testosterone permitted only their measurements in high concentrations. TRFIA yielded insignificantly higher while CL showed insignificantly lower values than RIA. The convenience of saliva sampling combined with the use of valid non-isotopic assays should further facilitate the measurement of steroid levels in serial samples for long term studies during in vitro fertilization programs, and contraception