Precision and accuracy of a radioimmunoassay versus GLC procedure for quantitative determination of morphine compounds in biological materials

The radioimmunoassay for morphine (I) [57-27-2] was not affected by the initial concn. of I in the tissues; the std. deviations were small when the assay solns. contained 10 or 20 and 20 or 40 ng/mL, but the std. deviations were considerably high when I concns. were 5 or 10 ng/mL. Also, the variations in the recovery percentages were greater at the lowest concns. The assay dets. total I and its glucuronide [33086-26-9], hence higher results were likely compared to gas-liq. chromatog. (GLC) anal. (1% SE 30 on silanized Gas-Chrom P) of unhydrolyzed samples. The method was also used for I anal. in materials from subjects died from opiate intoxication