CATALYTIC ACTIVITY OF IMMUNE-COMPLEXES OF PEROXIDASE AND ITS CONJUGATES WITH CORTISOL IN REVERSED MICELLES OF AEROSOL OT

Conjugates containing 1, 6 or 11 cortisol molecules per peroxidase molecule were obtained by the reaction of the N-hydroxysuccinimide ester of cortisol 3-O-carboxyme-thyloxime (COR) with horse-radish peroxidase (HRP). Activities of the peroxidase conjugates and their immunocomplexes with antibodies against cortisol in the ortho-phenylenediamine oxidation in reversed Aerosol OT micelles in heptane at various hydration degrees of the micelles (w0) were studied. Catalytic activities of HRP and its conjugates, on one hand, and of the immunocomplexes of HRP with anti-HRP and the conjugates with antibodies against cortisol, on the other hand, differed significantly and depended in a different manner on the hydration degree of AOT micelles. These differences became the basis of a homogeneous enzyme-immunoassay of cortisol in the reversed micelles of AOT in heptane.