Recent developments in steroid radioimmunoassays

The rapid progress of steroid radioimmunoassays since their introduction in 1969 has resulted in their widespread application to mammalian physiology and experimental and clinical medicine. The technical aspects of this progress up to the middle of 1974 have been covered in a number of books and reviews. This review will be a somewhat personal assessment of current developments (up to mid-1976) and their possible place in the future; it is neither exhaustive nor exhausting. The technique of steroid radioimmunoassay (RIA) has, like the ages of Man, seven stages and these will be considered in turn: antisera, tracers, sample preparation, reagent dispensing, separation of free and bound radioactivity, counting and data processing, quality control and standardization. (author)