Use of a radioreceptorassay (RRA) for human luteinizing hormone/chorionic gonadotropin (hLH/CG) for detection of early pregnancy and estimation of time of ovulation in macaques

Abstract

A radioreceptorassay (RRA) for macaque luteinizing hormone (LH)/chorionic gonadotropin (CG) was adapted from the clinical RRA for human LH/CG, Biocept-G™, for the purposes of detection of pregnancy prior to day 20 of gestation and for estimation of the time of ovulation in macaques. The 90-min assay procedure was simple, accurate, and reliable. Seventy-five rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) and 20 crab-eating monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) were tested for the presence of CG in the serum on estimated days 17-20 of pregnancy. Of a total of 160 tests, four false negative and 0 false positive tests were obtained, for an accuracy of 97.5%. The preovulatory LH peak was detected in 19 rhesus monkeys by semiquantitative RRA of LH/CG. Ovulation was confirmed in these 19 animals by the presence of a fresh corpus luteum at laparotomy 2-10 days after ovulation, collection of an embryo, pregnancy, or subsequent cycle history. The short, simple assay procedure and the low inter-and intraassay coefficients of variation (7.3 and 3.7%, respectively) allow use of this assay in an economical, predictive, as well as retrospective, capacity for estimation of the time of ovulation in rhesus monkeys. The sensitivity, reliability, species nonspecificity, simplicity, and rapidity of performance of this RRA for LH/CG are features which add up to a useful new management tool for breeding macaques for research purposes.