Development of a Progesterone-Receptor-Based Pseudo-immunoassay for Multi-detection of Progestins in Milk and Studying Its Recognition Mechanism

The residues of progestins in milk are dangerous to consumers, but an immunoassay capable of multi-determining progestins in milk has not been reported thus far. In this study, the ligand binding domain of the human progesterone receptor was expressed and its intermolecular interactions with the commonly used steroid hormones were studied. The docking results showed that the receptor fragment only recognized progestins and did not recognize other steroid hormones. Then, it was used as recognition material to develop a pseudo-direct competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for multi-determination of five progestins in milk. Because biotinylated horseradish peroxidase was combined with streptavidinated horseradish peroxidase to enhance the signal, the sensitivities for the five progestins (IC50 of 0.029-0.097 ng/mL) were improved 96-143-fold in comparison to the use of the conventional horseradish peroxidase signal system (IC50 of 3.0-12.5 ng/mL). This method showed negligible cross-reactivities to other steroid hormones, consistent with the docking results. This was the first paper developing a progesterone-receptor-based method for detection of progestins, and this method exhibited generally better performance than all of the previously reported immunoassays for progestins.

Development of a Magnetic Molecularly Imprinted Microsphere-Based Signal Amplified Semi-Homogeneous Method for Multidetection of Five Progestins in Milk

The residues of progestins in milk are significant risk factors for teenage acne and may cause hormone-dependent cancers in consumers, so the determination of these residues in milk is very important. However, an immunoassay or immunoassay-like method capable of determining multiple progestins in milk has not been reported so far. The present study, for the first time, synthesized a type of magnetic molecularly imprinted microsphere that was capable of simultaneously recognizing five progestins. At the same time, an enzyme labeled conjugate was synthesized by coupling progesterone 3-(o-carboxymethyl)oxime with streptavidinated horseradish peroxidase. The above two reagents were used to develop a semi-homogeneous method for the simultaneous detection of the residues of the five progestins in milk. During the experiments, biotinylated horseradish peroxidase was used to amplify the signal, so the sensitivity to the five drugs (limits of detection 0.04-0.1 pg/mL) was increased 44-75-fold. In addition, the magnetic molecularly imprinted microsphere could be regenerated four times by using simple elution. Through general comparison of its detection spectrum, sensitivity, simplicity, and reusability, the present method exhibited better performance than the previous immunoassays for the detection of progestins, and so it could be used as a routine tool for the screening of progestins residues in milk.

CD34+ stem cell counting using labeled immobilized anti-CD34 antibody onto magnetic nanoparticles and EasyCounter BC image cytometer

The ability of immobilized conjugate anti-CD34⁺ monoclonal antibody-dR110 and free conjugate anti-CD45⁺ monoclonal antibody-ATTO620 to precisely enumerate CD34⁺ stem cells and CD45⁺ cells in apheresis samples were evaluated. The conjugates anti-CD34⁺ antibody-dR110 and anti-CD45⁺- antibody-ATTO620 were prepared. Functionalized magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) were synthesized. The anti-CD34⁺ antibody-dR110 conjugate was immobilized on the modified MNPs using a carbodiimide method. The stem cell count in thawed apheresis samples was determined using the free and the immobilized conjugate anti-CD34⁺ antibody-dR110 on MNPs and an image cell counter EasyCounter BC. A higher stem cell count and more accurate results were obtained with the immobilized conjugate, because a separation and concentration of the stem cells bound to antibody-dR110 on MNPs by external magnet were performed. Coefficients of variation of CD34⁺ cell count in apheresis samples, determined by EasyCounter BC, were ranged from 5.5 to 6.9% and those of CD45⁺ cell count from 3.8 to 4.7%. The viability of CD34⁺ cells was high from 98.5 to 99.6%. It was found that correlation coefficient between the flow cytometer and automatic cell counter, using free anti-CD34⁺ antibody-dR110 was 0.94, and when using immobilized anti-CD34⁺antibody-dR110 on MNPs, the correlation coefficient was 0.97.

Determination of Progestin Residues in Fish by UPLC-Q-TOF/MS Coupled with QuEChERS

A novel method was developed for simultaneous determination of 10 progestin residues in fish by ultra-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF/MS) combined with a modified quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe (QuEChERS) method. The homogenized samples were dispersed by water, extracted with acetonitrile, and then purified by QuEChERS reagent. The concentrated analytes were detected by UPLC-Q-TOF/MS. High linearities (R ² > 0.995) and recoveries (85.71-117.08%) at three spiked levels (5, 10, and 20 ng/g) and low relative standard deviation values (<8.83%, n = 7) and limits of detection (0.23-0.66 ng/g) were obtained. This method is simple, rapid, reliable, sensitive, and efficient and can be used for monitoring of progestin residues in fish. This method provides a strong guarantee to deal with food emergencies for the laboratory, provides technical support for the screening and quantitative detection of progesterone in fish, and provides technical support for the food safety of aquatic products.