Development of double sandwich ELISA for Clostridium perfringens beta and epsilon toxins

Specific, double-sandwich ELISAs for beta and epsilon toxins were developed by coating wells of microplates with specific sheep antitoxin IgG and using specific rabbit antitoxin IgG as detecting antibodies. The assay for beta toxin detected a minimum level of 8 ng/ml of purified toxin. The assay for epsilon toxin was capable of detecting 2 ng/ml of purified toxin. When applied to detect the toxin in intestinal contents using 50% fetal bovine serum as diluent the lowest amounts detected were about at least 30 ng/ml for beta toxin and 4 ng/ml for epsilon toxin. Clear differences in ELISA readings of both assays have been found between culture filtrates from toxin and non-toxin producing strains. These results suggested that both assays described in this study could detect their respective toxin in buffers, culture supernatants or in intestinal contents.