Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays for bovine alpha-lactalbumin and beta-lactoglobulin in serum and tissue culture media.

Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays for bovine alpha-lactalbumin and beta-lactoglobulin have been developed for measurements of serum and tissue culture samples. Either alpha-lactalbumin or beta-lactoglobulin antiserum was coated on ELISA plates. Biotinylated proteins were used in competition with unknown amount of proteins in samples. After unbound proteins were washed off, ExtrAvidin-peroxidase and tetramethylbenzidine were then used as a detection system. Crossreactivity of caseins or bovine serum albumin was less than .0001% in either alpha-lactalbumin or beta-lactoglobulin ELISA. Parallel curves from serial dilutions were obtained in serum and media samples. The additivity of alpha-lactalbumin and beta-lactoglobulin ELISA was validated in either serum or medium samples. The intraassay and interassay coefficients of variation for alpha-lactalbumin and beta-lactoglobulin ELISA were below 10% over 51 and 47 assays. The ELISA are useful in mammary gland biology studies for measuring milk whey protein in serum or culture media.