Fit of some analytical functions to insulin radio-immunoassay standard curves.

Some analytical functions were tested for goodness of fit to standard curves in radio-immunoassays of insulin (Hales & Randle, 1963). Letting a, b and c be parameters, and y the radioactivity measured at an insulin concentration of x, excellent fit was obtained with the function 1/(y+c)=ax+b. This function was associated with a smaller variance around y and a greater number of sign changes for the residuals (calculated radioactivity minus observed radioactivity) than any of the following: 1/y=ax(c)+b; y=ae(bx)+c; y=a+bx+cx(2)+dx(3). The mean number of sign changes of the residuals in 50 separate assays of mouse insulin was within the 95% confidence interval expected for a correct model. The function that was found to be applicable to assays of mouse, human and ox insulins should be useful in routines for computer processing of insulin assay data and may also prove applicable to other radio-immunoassays.