Underestimation of rat serum vancomycin concentrations measured by an enzyme-multiplied immunoassay technique and the strategy for its avoidance.

An enzyme-multiplied immunoassay technique (EMIT) has been widely adopted for the measurement of serum concentrations of vancomycin (VCM) in clinical practice. Because of the growing demand for its application to fundamental pharmacokinetic studies, we examined whether VCM concentrations in rat serum were accurately measured by EMIT. It was found that measured values of known amounts of VCM spiked to rat serum were markedly underestimated with a large analytical variance. When ultrafiltrated rat serum was used as the sample matrix, interference was significantly improved, and the degree of underestimation was attenuated also by diluting samples with physiological saline. These results suggest that endogenous substances of a high molecular weight in rat serum interfere with the analysis of VCM concentrations by EMIT. However, measured values of rat serum VCM concentrations by EMIT were restored to theoretical levels by exposing samples to 70°C for 3-7 min. A likely explanation for the avoidance of interference is that an appropriate thermal force eliminated the immunological function of endogenous substances falsely recognizing VCM without affecting the VCM molecule itself. Regarding serum samples collected from rats that were administered VCM, values measured by EMIT following the heat-treatment agreed well with those by the high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method. This is the first report showing interference by endogenous high-molecular substances in the measurement of drug concentrations in rat serum using EMIT. Our findings will contribute to the appropriate use of VCM based on evidence provided by clinical-oriented rat experiments requiring the measurement of serum VCM concentrations by EMIT.