Two direct (nonchromatographic) assays for 25-hydroxyvitamin D.

We describe direct, nonchromatographic assays for 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 in which we use either rat vitamin D-binding protein or rabbit antibodies to 25-hydroxyvitamin D3-3-hemisuccinate-bovine serum albumin as binding protein. Nonspecific interferences in serum could be eliminated by an appropriate extraction method or in obtaining data for the calibration curve, by using vitamin D-free human serum. The latter is prepared by affinity chromatography with use of immobilized antibodies against human vitamin D-binding protein. Values obtained by the direct assays and those obtained by two different chromatographic methods correlated well (r greater than 0.95). The direct competitive protein-binding assay overestimated the true 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 concentration by about 20%, but this percentage was constant from 5 to 600 micrograms/L. Overestimation by the direct radioimmunoassay was less than 10%. These two direct assays for 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 allow reliable, rapid, and simple screening for vitamin D deficiency or excess.