Radioligand binding studies receptor preparations

The MIPs have also been utilized as the recognition elements in pseudoimmunoassays. " In this approach, MIPs are substituted for antibodies to quantify the amount of analyte in a biological sample, such as blood plasma. Most MIP immunoassays are competitive binding studies in which a radio- or fluorescent-labeled analyte is added to a mixture of the MIP and imlabeled analyte. After equilibrium is reached, some fraction of the labeled species is bound to the polymer surface and thus can be separated from the supernatant. The supernatant is then analyzed via scintillation or fluorescence techniques to determine the concentration of the original unlabeled analyte. Mosbach et al. have demonstrated that MIP-based immunoassays can rival the selectivity of antibody-based assays. Imprinted polymers for the opioid receptor ligands enkephalin and morphine were prepared and showed submicromolar (pM) level selectivity in a radioligand competition assay in aqueous buffers. The analysis... 

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