Abstract
A direct competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for carbofuran was developed, which was based on the anti-BFNB IgG monoclonal antibody (McAb) and a homologous enzyme tracer (BFNB-HRP). The influence of several physicochemical factors (salt, pH, detergent, and solvent) on the immunoassay was studied. For the standard curve, an I50 of 2.98 µg/l and a limit of detection (I10) of 0.27 µg/l was obtained in a high salt concentration buffer (0.08 M PBS, pH 7.0) with 0.03% BSA. A common challenge for immunoassay, time-dependent drift, was effectively circumvented in our study. The optimized ELISA has been used to quantify carbofuran in water samples spiked at different amounts. The excellent recoveries (71% to 130%) achieved confirmed the potential of the immunoassay for monitoring of carbofuran in waters without purification steps.
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (30370944) and Zhejiang Key Technologies R & D Program (2006C12102). We are very grateful to Zhejiang Health Creation Biotech Co. Ltd. for financing support.
Notes
a SD (standard deviation n = 4)
b CV (coefficient of variation): data obtained from four determinations performed in the same ELISA plate.