ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) measurement is useful as an aid in the evaluation of ovarian reserve. In the past, its conventional use was restricted by the low-throughput and variability of existing manual AMH assays. We developed the automated Access AMH assay for the quantitative determination of AMH levels on the Access family of immunoassay systems. The analytical performance of this new assay was evaluated. DESIGN AND METHODS: Sensitivity, dilution linearity, assay imprecision, AMH sample stability, lot-to-lot comparison and correlation with AMH Gen II assay (Beckman Coulter, Inc.) were evaluated. Reference intervals for Access AMH were established in healthy females, males, newborns (≤60days) and pediatric males classified by Tanner stages. RESULTS: The limit of blank and limit of detection were below 0.0077 and 0.0098ng/mL, respectively. The limit of quantitation was 0.010ng/mL. The total imprecision ranged from 2.4 to 5.2%. Linearity was observed up to 24ng/mL. Sample storage at room temperature up to 48h, at 2-8°C up to 7days and at -20°C up to 15months had no impact on measured AMH. The correlation study gave a coefficient between 0.99 and 1 and a regression slope between 0.89 and 0.92. Excellent lot-to-lot comparability was observed on controls and patient samples with a maximum bias of 3.7% between 2.81 and 15.03ng/mL. CONCLUSIONS: The fully automated Access AMH immunoassay demonstrates excellent analytical performance. As a consequence, the availability of this assay will represent a robust, fast and precise alternative to manual AMH assay testing.
