Artificial antigen synthesis and the development of polyclonal antibody-based immunoassay for citreoviridin determination.

Citreoviridin, a mycotoxin produced by Penicillium citreonigrum is a common contaminant of wide range of agri-products and detrimental to human and animal health. Therefore it is important to develop a rapid, sensitive, and specific immunoassay for citreoviridin detection. In this study, polyclonal antibody against citreoviridin was developed. For the preparation of citreoviridin-bovine serum albumin conjugate (CIT-BSA), hydroxyl groups on adjacent carbon atoms were oxidized by sodium periodate, so the product with reactive aldehyde residues was suitable for coupling with amine. Anti-citreoviridin polyclonal antibody was prepared by immunizing mice with CIT-BSA conjugate. The specificity and sensitivity of the polyclonal antibody was determined by indirect competitive ELISA. Results showed that the IC50 value of the polyclonal antibody was 0.56 μg/mL and no cross-reactivity was found between antiserum and other mycotoxins used in the experiment. The citreoviridin recovery rates by this polyclonal antibody were calculated through rice powder spiked by artificial citreoviridin. The recovery rates ranged were found from 70.5 ± 0.08 % to 94.7 ± 0.09% for inter-assay, and from 77.5 ± 0.04% to 95.4 ± 0.18% for intra-assay, which indicated that this polyclonal antibody could detect trace amount of CIT from the tested samples. Consequently, this study provided a specific and sensitive anti-citreoviridin polyclonal antibody, which made the determination of citreoviridin easier, quicker, and more accurate.