Convallatoxin, the active cardiac glycoside of lily of the valley, minimally affects the ADVIA Centaur digoxin assay.

OBJECTIVE

Lily of the valley is a poisonous plant due to the presence of the cardiac glycoside convallatoxin which is known to interfere with serum digoxin measurement using the LOCI digoxin assay and other digoxin assays. We evaluated potential interference of convallatoxin as well as extract of lily of the valley with the ADVIA Centaur digoxin assay by comparing results obtained using the LOCI digoxin assay.

METHODS

Aliquots of a drug-free serum pool and a digoxin serum pool were supplemented with nanograms to 1 μg quantities of convallatoxin or 1.0 and 2.5 μL of lily of the valley extract per milliliter of serum followed by measurement of digoxin concentrations using the LOCI and ADVIA Centaur digoxin assays.

RESULTS

Apparent digoxin concentrations were minimal using the ADVIA Centaur digoxin assay when aliquots of drug-free serum were supplemented with convallatoxin or extract of lily of the valley but apparent digoxin levels were very high using the LOCI digoxin assay. Moreover, minimal interference in serum digoxin measurement using the ADVIA Centaur digoxin assay was observed when aliquots of serum digoxin pool were further supplemented with lily of the valley extract. As expected, the LOCI digoxin assay showed significant interference of convallatoxin in serum digoxin measurement.

CONCLUSIONS

Significant interference of convallatoxin in serum digoxin measurement using the LOCI digoxin assay could be minimized using the ADVIA Centaur digoxin assay.