Rapid simultaneous determination of glucagon and insulin by capillary electrophoresis immunoassays

A rapid capillary electrophoresis (CE) with laser-induced fluorescence (LIF ) competitive immunoassay has been developed for the determination of gluca gon in biological mixtures. In the assay, fluorescein-conjugated glucagon i s mixed with the sample followed by addition of anti-glucagon. Free and ant ibody-bound, tagged glucagon could be separated in 3 s using CE to obtain q uantitative determination of glucagon with a concentration detection limit of 760 pM. The assay was combined with a previously developed competitive i mmunoassay for insulin to produce a simultaneous immunoassay for both pepti des. The method was used to determine glucagon content of islets of Langerh ans. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.