Poster Session: 11:00AM - 1:30PM ET

Development of a Novel Highly Sensitive Oxytocin ELISA

PRESENTER:  

Dr. Naomi Tsurutani | Sales Manager at FUJIFILM Wako Chemicals U.S.A. Corporation

PRESENTER'S BIO: 

Naomi Tsurutani received her Ph.D. in Virology/Immunology from Tokyo Medical and Dental University in Tokyo, Japan. Before joining FUJIFILM Wako, she worked at Emory University, UMass Medical School, and UConn Health as an immunology researcher. 

At FUJIFILM Wako, she helps researchers to better perform and communicate their research by using FUJIFILM Wako products.

ABSTRACT:

Oxytocin is a peptide hormone comprising nine amino acids. It is produced in the hypothalamus and released mainly from the posterior pituitary gland following childbirth and during lactation, and it promotes uterine contraction and milk production. It also has stress-relieving, anxiolytic, and fear-reducing effects and plays a role in the development of maternal behavior. Due to these properties, oxytocin is often referred to as the "happy hormone" or "love hormone." Recently, oxytocin has attracted much attention in treating mental disorders such as depression, autism, and schizophrenia. 

We constructed an oxytocin competition ELISA with high sensitivity (4 pg/mL) using biotin-labeled, streptavidin-conjugated HRP and luminescent substrate. 

Our ELISA demonstrated an excellent recovery rate (near 100%) using human saliva, serum, and urine-spiked oxytocin. On the other hand, the conventional method shows a too-low recovery rate in the case of serum, and the non-pretreated method shows a too-high recovery rate in all samples. 

In conclusion, we have developed a novel oxytocin ELISA method that can measure various samples using a simple pretreatment method. Our method is expected to be a valuable tool for various oxytocin studies using models from humans, mice, and rats.