Salvinorin immunoassay
The present invention provides an immunoassay method for detecting or determining the amount of salvinorin A, salvinorin B and/or analogues thereof in an in vitro sample, an antibody for salvinorin A, salvinorin B and/or analogues thereof and a kit for detecting the presence of or determining the amount of salvinorin A, salvinorin B and its analogues thereof in a sample.
1. A method for detecting or determining the amount of salvinorin A, salvinorin B, and/or a C-9 analogue of salvinorin A and/or salvinorin B in an in vitro sample, the method comprising:
contacting the sample with a conjugate and an antibody,
detecting conjugate bound to salvinorin A, salvinorin B, and/or a C-9 analogue of salvinorin A and/or salvinorin B, and
deducing from a calibration curve the presence or the amount of salvinorin A, salvinorin B, and/or a C-9 analogue of salvinorin A and/or salvinorin B,
wherein;
the antibody is raised from an immunogen of the following structure:
wherein accm is an antigenicity-conferring carrier material and the crosslinker joins the O-atom at C-9 of the tricyclic fused ring to the accm; and
the conjugate comprises a reporter group that is linked to the O-atom at C-9 of the tricyclic fused ring of salvinorin B.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the crosslinker is —(X) n —Y—Z—, where n=0 or 1, and if present, X is selected from the group consisting of carbonyl, thiocarbonyl, oxycarbonyl and oxythiocarbonyl; Y is a C 1- C 10 substituted or unsubstituted straight chain or saturated alkylene moiety or arylene moiety and Z is selected from the group consisting of a carbonyl group or an amino group.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein Y is a C 2 -C 6 substituted or unsubstituted straight chain or saturated alkylene moiety or an arylene moiety.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the C-9 analogue is 9-methoxymethyl ethersalvinorin B or 9-ethoxymethylethersalvinorin B.