Simplified solid-phase immunobead assay for detection of ciguatoxin and related polyethers.

This study examined the development of a highly simplified solid-phase colored latex immunobead assay for the detection of ciguatoxin and related polyethers. This procedure was compared with the stick enzyme immunoassay previously reported. Chi-square analysis of two separate experiments on 153 and 283 fish of various species gave chi 2 values of p less than 0.001 and p less than 0.005, respectively. Agreement between the two procedures with 26 fish implicated in ciguatera poisoning was 100%. A preliminary assessment in the field showed encouraging results. The procedure appears to be simple and applicable to field use. Furthermore, this procedure should be applicable to other antibody-antigen detections, especially low dalton determinations.