Application of Radioimmunoassay to the Quantitation of Hyoscyamine in Plant Material

Abstract
A radioimmunoassay has been developed for the analysis of atropine (dl-hyoscyamine) from unpurified ethanolic extracts of Atropa belladonna L. The antiserum used was highly specific for d-hyoscyamine, the unnatural enantiomer. Consequently, a racemization step had to be included in the assay procedure in order to obtain the analysis of atropine. The method is rapid and sensitive, giving excellent values for accuracy, precision and correlation. There was practically no interference in the assay from other compounds present in the extracts.