Experiences using chloramine-T and 1, 3, 4, 6-tetrachloro-3 alpha, 6 alpha-diphenylglycoluril (Iodogen) for radioiodination of materials for radioimmunoassay.

A comparison of labelling compounds with chloramine-T and with 1, 3, 4, 6-tetrachloro-3 alpha, 6 alpha-diphenylglycoluril (Iodogen) has been carried out. For human transferrin, human calcitonin, 1-84 bovine parathyrin, fibrinopeptide-A, human thyrotropin and F-CB3, a cyanogen bromide cleavage peptide of human fibrinogen, the quality of tracer produced by the Iodogen method was better. For rat lutropin, human growth hormone and human prolactin, labelling with Iodogen produced a tracer of unsatisfactory quality. For a further 13 peptides, the results from both methods were comparable. Optimal reaction times using Iodogen were of the magnitude of two to three times longer than when using chloramine-T. Reduction of the volume of radioactive waste by up to 90% could be achieved when the Iodogen method was coupled with a short cation-exchange column to separate unreacted iodide from the labelled compound. Data is presented on the quality of tracer, expressed in terms of elution profiles and radioimmunoassay standard curves. A novel "combi-method" of labelling proteins without tyrosine or histidine moieties is presented where N-succinimidyl-3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-propionate is labelled at pH 7.5 using Iodogen to give "Bolton-Hunter" reagent, which is then transferred to a vessel containing the peptide to be labelled at ph 8.6.