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ELIME Enzyme Linked Immuno Magnetic Electrochemical Method for Mycotoxin Detection
Published on: October 23, 2009
Imaging sensor array coupled with dual-signal amplification strategy for ultrasensitive chemiluminescence immunoassay
Chen Zong1, Fan Jiang1, Xiaoyu Wang1
1State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing, 210009, PR China.
Insights
A new chemiluminescence immunosensor array enables rapid, ultrasensitive detection of multiple mycotoxins in herbal medicine. This dual-amplification strategy offers improved sensitivity and accuracy for food safety testing.
Area of Science:
- Analytical Chemistry
- Biosensing Technology
- Food Safety
Background:
- Mycotoxin contamination in herbal medicines poses significant health risks.
- Existing detection methods often lack the sensitivity, speed, or multiplexing capabilities required for comprehensive analysis.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a novel chemiluminescence (CL) immunosensor array for simultaneous, ultrasensitive detection of multiple mycotoxins.
- To implement a dual-signal amplification strategy for enhanced detection performance.
Main Methods:
- Constructed a multi-component immunosensor array by immobilizing mycotoxins on aldehyde-modified glass slides.
- Employed a competitive immunoreaction followed by CL detection using a charge-coupled device.
- Utilized a dual-signal amplification strategy involving gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) functionalized with horseradish peroxidase (HRP) and IgG (HRP@AuNP-IgG), coupled with tyramine signal amplification (TSA).
Main Results:
- The CL immunosensor array successfully detected citrinin, aflatoxin B1, and ochratoxins A in red yeast rice samples.
- Achieved wide linear ranges over 4 orders of magnitude and detection limits down to the sub-picomolar (pM) level.
- Demonstrated 50-57-fold signal amplification, high selectivity, acceptable stability, and accuracy with a throughput of 20 tests per hour.
Conclusions:
- The developed CL immunosensor array with dual-signal amplification provides a sensitive, rapid, and efficient platform for the joint monitoring of multiple mycotoxins.
- This technology shows significant potential for the safety evaluation of herbal medicines and other food products.
Abstract:
A novel chemiluminescence (CL) immunosensor array in combination with a dual-signal amplification strategy was developed for rapid and ultrasensitive detection of multiple mycotoxins in herbal medicine. The multi-component immunosensor array was constructed by immobilizing different bovine serum albumin combined mycotoxins on the corresponding sites of the aldehyde-modified glass slide. After competitive immunoreactions, CL triggered by signal tags captured on all the sensing sites can be collected by a charge-coupled device simultaneously for joint detection of several mycotoxins. By assembling a high ratio of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) and IgG on the surface of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), a biofunctionalized complex named HRP@AuNP-IgG was prepared and served as the primary signal tag to amplify the CL signals. Then, by introducing tyramine signal amplification (TSA) technique, a new round of HRP could deposit around the HRP@AuNP-IgG, which brought the secondary CL amplification. As a proof of concept, the CL imaging sensor array was applied to the trace detection of citrinin, aflatoxin B1 and ochratoxins A in red yeast rice samples. Under optimal conditions, it exhibited wide linear ranges over 4 orders of magnitude and much lower limits of detection than previous works. Owing to the excellent sensitivity (50-57-fold signal amplification and detection limits down to sub-pM level), acceptable throughput (20 tests h-1), small amounts of reagents (3.5 μL for each test), simple sample pretreatment (no necessary of separation for 3 mycotoxins), high selectivity, acceptable stability and accuracy, the proposed sensing platform showed broad prospects in the joint monitoring of low-abundant mycotoxins and safety evaluation of herbal medicines.
