Flow injection chemiluminescence for the determination of estriol via a noncompetitive enzyme immunoassay

A novel approach to the detection of estriol using a flow injection system coupled to enhanced chemiluminescent immunoassay was developed based on noncompetitive immunoassay formats. A conjugated estriol-ovalbumin immobilized immunoaffinity column was inserted into the flow system to trap the unbound horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-labeled antibody after an off-line incubation of estriol and HRP-labeled anti-estriol antibody. The trapped enzyme conjugate was detected by the injection of chemiluminescent substrates to produce enhanced chemiluminescence. The linear range for the determination of estriol is 10.0 to 400 ng center dot mL(-1) with a correlation coefficient of 0.996 and a detection limit of 5.0 ng center dot mL(-1). The total time for sampling and chemiluminescent detection of one sample is 400 seconds after 30 min of pre-incubation. The results for pregnancy serum samples obtained by this method are in good agreement with those obtained using ELISA.