Development of an ultrasensitive immunochromatographic assay (ICA) strip for the rapid detection of phenylethanolamine A in urine and pork samples.

In this study a one-step immunochromatographic assay based on competitive format was developed for the rapid detection of phenylethanolamine A (PEAA) residues in urine and pork samples. A monoclonal antibody against PEAA was produced from BALB/c mice immunized with the PEAA-BSA conjugate. The results of this qualitative test strip were to be interpreted visually. The visual detection limit (VDL) and threshold level of the optimized immunochromatographic assay for PEAA were 0.1 ng/mL and 0.5 ng/mL, respectively. Cross-reactions with other β-agonists were not significant inhibitions to the performance of the test strip assay. The results from the test strip were in a good agreement with those obtained using a high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) assay. The immunochromatographic assay developed here was a useful on-site screening tool that is rapid to use, low in cost, and extremely convenient for the detection of PEAA in urine samples and pork samples.