Direct determination of some phenothiazine sedatives in greyhound urine by fluoroimmunoassay

Abstract

Antibodies have been raised in rabbits to a chlorpromazine sulfoxide–bovine serum albumin immunogen and the resulting antiserum used to develop a magnetizable solid-phase antibody fluoroimmunoassay for the detection of sulfoxide metabolites of commonly used phenothiazine and thioxanthine neuroleptics. These assays were used to screen metabolite levels in the urine of a greyhound following oral medication with chlorpromazine in order to assess the potential of these assays as simple screens for detecting exposure of racing greyhounds to such sedatives. The urine samples were also screened for neuroleptic content using an established radioreceptor assay and by TLC. The immunoassay described represents a relatively simple, sensitive and group-specific alternative method for screening for medication with phenothiazine and structurally similar sedatives in urine samples.