ELISA for semicarbazide and its application for screening in food contamination

Development of an ultrasensitive sandwich immunoassay for detecting small molecule semicarbazide

Ultrasensitive sandwich immunoassays for detecting the small molecule semicarbazide (SEM) were developed based on derivatization. Several SEM derivatizing agents were synthesized by linking o-nitrobenzaldehyde (NBA) and biotin with dihydroxyalkanes (different lengths), which were then used to evaluate the distance effect of two epitopes. Sandwich ELISA for SEM derivatives was developed using an anti-SEM-NBA antibody and horseradish peroxidase-labeled avidin or anti-biotin antibody as a secondary conjugate. The advantageous distances of the two epitopes under the double-antibody sandwich and antibody-avidin sandwich modes were ≥12 and ≥13 Å, respectively. Under the distances, the sensitivities of the sandwich ELISA were no lower than those of competitive ELISA. The obtained optimal EC50 values were 11.2 pg/mL (double-antibody sandwich with the epitope distance ≥16 Å) and 7.3 pg/mL (antibody-avidin sandwich with the epitope distance ≥17 Å). Compared with competitive ELISA, the developed method achieved a 30-fold improvement in sensitivity, with simpler aquatic product pretreatment.

Conventional and advanced detection techniques of foodborne pathogens: A comprehensive review

Foodborne pathogens are a major public health concern and have a significant economic impact globally. From harvesting to consumption stages, food is generally contaminated by viruses, parasites, and bacteria, which causes foodborne diseases such as hemorrhagic colitis, hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), typhoid, acute, gastroenteritis, diarrhea, and thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP). Hence, early detection of foodborne pathogenic microbes is essential to ensure a safe food supply and to prevent foodborne diseases. The identification of foodborne pathogens is associated with conventional (e.g., culture-based, biochemical test-based, immunological-based, and nucleic acid-based methods) and advances (e.g., hybridization-based, array-based, spectroscopy-based, and biosensor-based process) techniques. For industrial food applications, detection methods could meet parameters such as accuracy level, efficiency, quickness, specificity, sensitivity, and non-labor intensive. This review provides an overview of conventional and advanced techniques used to detect foodborne pathogens over the years. Therefore, the scientific community, policymakers, and food and agriculture industries can choose an appropriate method for better results.

The interaction analysis between human serum albumin with chlorpyrifos and its derivatives through sub-atomic docking and molecular dynamics simulation techniques

Chlorpyrifos (CPF) is an extensively used organophosphate pesticide for crop protection. However, there are concerns about it contaminating the environment and human health, with estimated three lakh deaths annually. The molecular modeling protocol was assisted in redesigning thirteen well-known CPF linkers and inserting them at five selectable CPF (R1-R5) positions of CPF to get 258 CPF derivatives. CPF and its derivatives were optimized using LigPrep and docked to a grid centralized on Trp214 using extra precision glide docking. The Binding free energy of complexes was calculated using molecular mechanics/generalized born surface area (MM-GBSA). CPF and CPFD-225 have glide scores of - 3.08 and - 6.152 kcal/mol, respectively, with human serum albumin and ΔG bind for CPF (- 33.041817 kcal/mol) (- 52.825 kcal/mol) for CPF-D225. The top ten CPF derivatives showed at least ninefold better binding free energy than the CPF proposed for polyclonal antibody production. Subsequently, molecular docking studies revealed that CPF and its derivatives could bind to human serum albumin (HSA). Furthermore, using the Desmond package, a 100-ns molecular dynamics (MD) simulation was performed on the potential binding site. The final systems of CPF-HSA and CPF-222D complexes consist of 76,014 and 76,026 atoms, respectively. The physical stability of both the systems (CPF-HSA and CPF-222D) was analyzed by considering the overall potential energy, RMSF, RMSD, Hydrophobic interactions, and water-mediated patterns, which showed total energy of - 141,610 kcal/mol and - 140,150 kcal/mol, respectively.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13205-022-03344-7.

Presence of nitrofurans and their metabolites in gelatine

Following the detection of semicarbazide (SEM) in gelatine by Italian Authorities, at levels exceeding by three times the reference point for action (RPA) of 1 μg/kg, set out by Commission Regulation (EU) 2019/1871 for nitrofurans and their metabolites, the European Commission mandated EFSA to investigate the available sources of nitrofurans and their metabolites in gelatine. European Commission also asked EFSA to provide approaches that would distinguish SEM occurring due to illegal treatment with nitrofurazone from SEM produced during food processing. The literature indicates that SEM, both free and bound to macromolecules, could occur also in food products such as gelatine, during food processing, arising from the use of disinfecting agents and/or from reactions of various food components and, therefore, SEM cannot be considered as an unequivocal marker of the abuse of nitrofurazone in animal production. It is recommended to investigate in more detail which processing conditions lead to the formation of SEM in gelatine during its production and what levels can be found. One potential approach to distinguishing between SEM from nitrofurazone and SEM from other sources in food products, such as gelatine, might be based on determining the ratio of bound:free SEM in a sample of gelatine. However, whether the ratio of bound:free SEM would unequivocally distinguish between SEM arising from nitrofurazone abuse or from other sources still needs to be demonstrated.

Immunoassay-based approaches for development of screening of chlorpyrifos

Chlorpyrifos (CPF) is an extensively used organophosphate pesticide for crop protection. However, there are concerns of it contaminating the environment and human health with estimated three lakh deaths annually. Detection of CPF in blood samples holds significance to avoid severe health outcomes due to continuous exposure. The most common techniques for CPF detection are Gas chromatography (GC) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). However, these techniques might not be feasible at the community healthcare level due to high-cost instrumentation, time-consuming sample preparation protocol and skilled analysts. Therefore, rapid, effective and economical methods such as immunoassay would be imperative for CPF detection in biological samples. The vital step in immunoassay development is the design of a potent immunogen from non-immunogenic molecules. The molecular modelling protocol could assist in redesigning known CPF linkers and inserting them at different substitutable positions of CPF to get distinctive CPF derivatives. Molecular docking and binding free energy analysis can be used to identify the CPF derivatives having a better binding affinity with carrier protein compared to CPF. The top-ranked CPF derivatives based on docking score and binding energy could be ideal for synthesis and immunogen development. The present review will comprehend technological trends in immunoassay kits for detecting chlorpyrifos from biological samples.

The health risk for seafood consumers under future ocean acidification (OA) scenarios: OA alters bioaccumulation of three pollutants in an edible bivalve species through affecting the in vivo metabolism

The current knowledge about the effect of pCO₂-driven ocean acidification on the bioaccumulation of pollutants in marine species is still scarce, as only limited types of pollutants have been investigated. Therefore, to obtain a better understanding of the effect of ocean acidification on the process of bioaccumulation and subsequent food safety, the accumulation of benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P), chloramphenicol (CAP), and nitrofurazone (NFZ) in an edible bivalve species, Tegillarca granosa, under present and near-future ocean acidification scenarios was investigated in the present study. The health risks associated with consuming contaminated blood clams were also assessed using target hazard quotient (THQ), lifetime cancer risk (CR), or margin of exposure (MoE). To explain the alterations in bioaccumulation of these pollutants, the expressions of genes encoding corresponding key metabolic proteins were analyzed as well. The results obtained showed that ocean acidification exerted a significant effect on the accumulation of B[a]P, NFZ, and CAP in the clams. After four-week exposure to B[a]P, NFZ, or CAP contaminated seawater acidified with CO₂ at pH 7.8 and 7.4, significantly greater amounts of B[a]P and lower amounts of NFZ and CAP were accumulated in the clams compared to that in the control. Although no non-carcinogenic risk of consuming B[a]P-contaminated blood clams was detected using the THQ values obtained, the CR values obtained indicated a high life-time risk in all groups. In addition, according to the MoE values obtained, the health risks in terms of consuming NFZ- and CAP-contaminated clams were significantly reduced under ocean acidification scenarios but still cannot be ignored, especially for children. The gene expression results showed that the ability of clams to eliminate B[a]P may be significantly constrained, whereas the ability to eliminate NFZ and CAP may be enhanced under ocean acidification scenarios, indicating that the changes in the accumulation of these pollutants may be due to the altered in vivo metabolism.

Development and comparative study of chemosynthesized antigen and mimotope-based immunoassays for class-specific analysis of O,O-dimethyl organophosphorus pesticides

The multi-residue determination of organophosphorus pesticides (OPs) is an important task due to the wide application and high toxicity of OPs. However, there is no promising immunoassay to monitor the multi-residue of O,O-dimethyl OPs. In this study, a monoclonal antibody (mAb) against a generic hapten of O,O-dimethyl OPs (O,O-dimethyl O-(3-carboxyphenyl)phosphorothioate) was prepared. To develop an effective class-specific immunoassay, two strategies were performed to select the appropriate coating antigen or competing antigen. On the one hand, a total of 20 haptens were chemosynthesized, attached to ovalbumin for use as coating antigen candidates, and selected by direct competitive ELISA (dcELISA). As a second strategy, mimotopes of the mAb were selected from a random phage-display peptide library by panning, and the optimum mimotope was expressed as a fusion protein and biotinylated in vitro. Based on the selected chemosynthesized coating antigen and the biotinylated mimotope fusion protein, two sensitive broad-specificity dcELISAs were developed. The sensitivity, selectivity and practicability of the two immunoassays were compared. The results demonstrated that both methods showed similar selectivity and sensitivity and were reliable for O,O-dimethyl OP residues screening. However, the screening operation of mimotopes was much simpler and safer compared to the preparation of chemosynthesized coating antigens.

Synthesis of hapten and production of a monoclonal antibody against a derivative of L-hydroxyproline, a special amino acid in hydrolyzed animal protein

China's government has prohibited the addition of simply hydrolyzed animal protein from solid leather waste into milk. The objective of this study was to produce a monoclonal antibody against L-hydroxyproline, a special amino acid in hydrolyzed animal protein. L-hydroxyproline was derivatized with N-acetylsulfanilyl chloride and 5-chlorovaleric acid to synthesize the haptens HP1 and HP2. Then, two immunogens from the two haptens were prepared to produce the antibodies. Results showed that only HP1 was able to stimulate the animal immune system and generate the specific antibody to L-hydroxyproline (as the formation of HP1). The obtained monoclonal antibody from HP1 and the heterologous coating hapten HP2 were incorporated into a competitive indirect enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to determine the antibody's specificity and sensitivity. The IC(50) and the limit of detection for HP1 were 0.16 μg/mL and 0.05 μg/mL respectively. The antibody showed low crossreactivity to parental L-hydroxyproline and showed negligible crossreactivity to D-hydroxyproline and other amino acids. The monoclonal antibody was therefore suitable for the development of an immunoassay to monitor the simply hydrolyzed animal protein from solid leather waste in foodstuffs with L-hydroxyproline as the target analyte.

Development of a monoclonal antibody-based competitive indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for furaltadone metabolite AMOZ in fish and shrimp samples

A monoclonal antibody-based competitive indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) with improved sensitivity and specificity for the determination of furaltadone metabolite 5-methylamorpholino-3-amino-2-oxazolidone (AMOZ) was described. AMOZ was derivatized with 2-(3-formylphenoxy)acetic acid and coupled with bovine serum albumin to form a novel immunogen. BABL/c mice were immunized and monoclonal antibody specific to the nitrophenyl derivative of AMOZ (NP-AMOZ) was produced and characterized. Four other haptens with different heterology to the immunizing hapten were synthesized and coupled to ovalbumin as coating antigens to study the effect of heterologous coating on assay sensitivity. Under the optimized heterologous coating format, the competitive indirect ELISA showed very high sensitivity to NP-AMOZ, with an IC(50) of 0.14 μg/L and limit of detection of 0.01 μg/L. The assay showed high specificity toward NP-AMOZ, and negligible cross-reactivity with analogous compounds was observed. The average recoveries of AMOZ from spiked fish and shrimp samples were estimated to range from 81.0 to 104.0%, with coefficients of variation below 20%. Good correlation was obtained between the results of ELISA analysis and of standard liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry analysis. These results indicated that the proposed ELISA is ideally suited as a monitoring method for AMOZ residues at trace level.

Novel hapten synthesis for antibody production and development of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for determination of furaltadone metabolite 3-amino-5-morpholinomethyl-2-oxazolidinone (AMOZ)

A heterologous competitive indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ciELISA) for the determination of the furaltadone metabolite 3-amino-5-morpholinomethyl-2-oxazolidinone (AMOZ) was developed. AMOZ was derivatised with 2-(4-formylphenoxy) acetic acid or 2-(3-formylphenoxy) acetic acid to obtain two novel immunizing haptens. The ability of these haptens in producing specific polyclonal antibodies against the nitrophenyl derivative of AMOZ (NPAMOZ) was compared with that of traditional immunizing haptens (derivatised AMOZ with 3-carboxybenzaldehyle or 4-carboxybenzaldehyle). The results indicated that the novel immunizing haptens were able to produce antibodies with almost a two-fold improvement in sensitivity of the ciELISA for NPAMOZ in comparison with the existing antibody based ELISAs. The differences in sensitivity were explained by the molecular modeling of the lowest energy conformations of NPAMOZ and the haptens. Another novel hapten, derivatised AMOZ with 2-oxoacetic acid, was synthesized and used as a heterologous coating hapten. The results showed that this strategy of using only a partial structure of the target molecule as the coating hapten was able to obtain a two to three-fold improvement in sensitivity. This study provided a modern approach for the development of an immunoassay with improved sensitivity for the metabolites of nitrofuran antibiotics.

Development of a competitive ELISA for the detection of a furaltadone marker residue, 3-amino-5-morpholinomethyl-2-oxazolidinone (AMOZ), in cultured fish samples

This report describes an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for tissue-bound metabolite 3-amino-5-morpholinomethyl-2-oxazolidinone (AMOZ) and the application to residue analysis in cultured fish samples. The residue is monitored as a marker for the drug furaltadone. The assay enables the detection of protein bound AMOZ in the form of a 2-nitrophenyl derivative (2-NP-AMOZ) in sample supernatant or extract after acid hydrolysis and derivatization with o-nitrobenzaldehyde. Polyclonal rabbit antibodies were produced with a new immunogen hapten, 2-NP-HXA-AMOZ. The new ELISA had adequate analytical sensitivity (IC(50) value 0.325 μg kg(-1); limit of detection 0.1 μg kg(-1)) to determine a trace of AMOZ residue and had a high selectivity. Recoveries of AMOZ fortified at the levels of 0.1, 0.5 and 1.0 μg kg(-1) ranged from 89.8 to 112.5% with coefficients of variation of 12.4-16.2% over the range of AMOZ concentrations studied. The results obtained with the ELISA correlated well with those obtained by commercial test kits for 150 tested samples (r=0.984). The results suggest that the developed ELISA is a highly specific, accurate, and sensitive method suitable for high throughput screening for AMOZ residues.

Development, validation and data quality assurance of screening methods: a case study

Despite the growing importance of qualitative screening tests in routine laboratories involved in the EU official control, their validation is not as deeply explained in Commission Decision 2002/657/EC as the validation of quantitative confirmatory methods. At the same time, the issue of quality assurance of screening assays defining internal quality control (IQC) procedures as required by accreditation bodies is undoubtedly less developed in this analytical field. As an example the present study describes the development, the validation and the IQC implemented for a commercial enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) able to detect 17-α-19-nortestosterone (α-NT) and 17-β-19-nortestosterone (β-NT) isomers in bullock urine. In order to select a suitable sample treatment, two SPE purification protocols were preliminary compared. The chosen method was therefore fully validated determining the mandatory parameters required by Commission Decision 2002/657/EC: specificity, detection capability and robustness. An in-depth discussion was carried out illustrating the possible validation approaches and their implications especially in the assessment of the key performance characteristic: detection capability. Finally, the control charts implemented for continuous method verification during analyses of real samples were reported.

Residue depletion of nitrovin in chicken after oral administration

In this study, the residue depletion of nitrovin in chicken was studied after feeding the birds with dietary feeds containing 10 mg/kg of nitrovin for 7 consecutive days. Tissues (muscle, fat, kidney, and liver) and plasma were collected at different withdrawal periods and determined by a high-performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet (HPLC-UV) method. The limit of detection for nitrovin in tissue and plasma samples was 0.1 ng/(g or mL), and the inter- and intrarecoveries from the blank fortified samples were in the range of 71.1-85.7%. At the withdrawal period of 0 days, the residue concentration of nitrovin in plasma was the highest (average of 84.98 ng/mL) compared to those in muscle, fat, liver, and kidney (average of 21.04, 61.18, 24.04, and 68.28 ng/g, respectively). At the withdrawal period of 28 days, the residue levels of nitrovin in muscle, fat, liver, and plasma were all higher than 1.0 ng/(g or mL) and the highest concentration was in liver (average of 5.8 ng/g). These data are in support of the ban of nitrovin as a feed additive in food-producing animals.

Validation of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for detecting sulfonamides in feed resources

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to screen sulfadiazine and sulfamethazine residues in feeds has been developed and validated according to Commission Decision 2002/657/EC criteria. Sulfonamides are easily extracted with a 95:5 acetonitrile/water mixture, obtaining recoveries between 80 and 100%. Accuracy, precision, selectivity, robustness, limit of detection (LOD), and detection capability (CCbeta) of the assay have been assessed during the validation process. LOD values in pig feed samples were 0.2 microg/g for sulfadiazine and 0.04 microg/g for sulfamethazine without any sample treatment other than extraction, dilution with the assay buffer, and filtering of the resulting solution. Furthermore, a new strategy for the determination of CCbeta in an ELISA screening method is proposed; this gave CCbeta values of 0.8 microg/g for sulfadiazine and 0.1 microg/g for sulfamethazine. Besides sulfadiazine and sulfamethazine, other sulfonamides can be detected with this immunoassay; this has been verified calculating their LOD values and cross-reactivities. Finally, real feed samples were analyzed with the ELISA methodology and a previously developed liquid chromatography (LC) method, and results confirmed the utility of this new immunoassay for screening purposes.

Multidetermination of four nitrofurans in animal feeds by a sensitive and simple enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay

In this study, the polyclonal antibody against furazolidone was produced with furazolidone coupling to protein carriers by a diazotization method and glutaraldehyde reaction, respectively. The antibody obtained showed good specificity toward furazolidone and various cross-reactivity toward nitrofurantoin, nitrofurazone, and furaltadone. Then, an indirect competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) based on the antibody was first developed for multidetermination of four nitrofurans in animal feeds. The limit of detection (LOD) of the method was 0.2-2.1 ng/g depending on the component. After simple extraction, the fortified swine and broiler chicken feed samples were detected with recovery ranges of 75.9-86.4%. Results obtained from ELISA were confirmed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with ultraviolet detection. Analysis of the unknown feed samples indicates that ELISA can be a practical tool for screening of nitrofurans in animal feeds before confirmation by HPLC.

New reagent for trace determination of protein-bound metabolites of nitrofurans in shrimp using liquid chromatography with diode array detector

The synthesis of derivatives of metabolites from furazolidone, furaltadone, nitrofurazone, and nitrofurantoin using a new derivatizing reagent, 2-naphthaldehyde (NTA), is described. The reaction product was used in liquid chromatography with diode array detector (LC-DAD) for determination of protein-bound metabolites of nitrofurans in shrimp followed by two steps of liquid-liquid extraction. Derivatives of nitrofuran metabolites are well separated from NTA remaining in the extract upon separation on a ChromSpher 5 Pesticide (250 x 4.6 mm, 5 microm) column at 40 degrees C with acetonitrile/5 mM ammonium acetate adjusted to pH 7.5 gradient as the mobile phase and DAD detection at 308 nm except for naphthyl derivative of 1-aminohydantoin at 310 nm. The high absorptivity of these derivatives makes simultaneous screening of these metabolites in shrimp at 1 microg/kg possible for the first time using LC-DAD. The method was validated using blank shrimp fortified with all four metabolites at 1, 1.5, and 2 microg/kg. Recoveries were >86% with relative standard deviations of <14% for all four metabolites. Comparison between LC-DAD and APCI-MS/MS shows very good agreement for shrimp samples.