Validation of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method for vitellogenin in the medaka

Abstract

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was validated for the measurement of vitellogenin (VTG) in the cyprinid model species, medaka (Oryzias latipes). Both polyclonal antibody- and monoclonal antibody-based kits showed very high correlation between VTG values in unknown samples when we used standardized VTG protein. This was confirmed by 5 laboratories which participated in the ring test. The use of one gold standard VTG is essential to measure VTG values using ELISA kits in future OECD ring tests to screen for estrogenic chemicals in the 3 fish species medaka, zebrafish and fathead minnow.