Immunoassay reagents for psychoactive drugs. II. The method for the development of antibodies specific to imipramine and desipramine.

Imipramine and desipramine were structurally modified by the attachment of spacer arms to the aromatic ring which were subsequently attached to bovine serum albumin. This approach utilized novel spacer arms and conjugation methods. This method yielded antisera with excellent selectivity and good titers. Rabbits were used to raise the antisera and the antibodies produced were characterized with respect to their cross-reactivity with imipramine, desipramine and hydroxy metabolites as well as selected structurally related compounds.