A New Hapten for Immunoassay of Aldicarb

Aldicarb, 2-methyl-2-(methylthio)propionaldehyde O-(methylcarbamoyl)oxime, is a systemic N-methylcarbamate insecticide and has been used on a variety of crops. It is moderately water soluble and considered as one of the most acutely toxic pesiticides. Ald…     

Determination of aculeatisides based on immunoassay using a polyclonal antibody against aculeatiside A

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed for determination of aculeatisides. Aculeatiside A was conjugated with bovine serum albumin (BSA) for immunization. The ratio of hapten in an antigen conjugate was determined by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization TOF mass spectrometry. Polyclonal antibody was developed in rabbits against an aculeatiside A-BSA conjugate. The antibody was specific for aculeatiside A and aculeatiside B. The range of the immunoassay extended from 100 ng ml(-1) to 5 pg ml(-1) of aculeatisides. Good correlation between ELISA and HPLC methods was obtained when crude extracts of plant samples were analyzed. The optimized ELISA was found to be applicable to the determination of total aculeatisides in various plant samples.     

High-performance capillary electrophoresis for characterization of hapten—protein conjugates used for production of antibodies against soyasaponin I

Micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography using sodium cholate as the micellar phase has been investigated for characterization of hapten—protein conjugates. Special focus has been placed on the hapten soyasaponin I which is a quantitatively dominating glycoside in seeds of several legumes including pea (Pisum sativum L.) and soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.]. Soyasaponin I has been isolated from pea and used as hapten for production of anti-saponin specific polyclonal antibodies. Soyasaponin I was coupled to Kunitz soybean trypsin inhibitor (KSTI) and bovine serum albumin. The degree of coupling was determined by high-performance capillary electrophoresis (HPCE). Capillaries dynamically coated with zwitterions were found to be efficient for reduction of interaction between the silica capillary surface and the proteins. The applicability of HPCE for determination of coupling density was confirmed by investigation of a model hapten (p-nitrophenyl-- -galactoside; PNPG) coupled to KSTI. The PNPG—KSTI conjugates were examined by both HPCE and by spectrophotometric determination of the PNPG density on KSTI. The HPCE method was shown to be efficient in studies of the formation of hapten—protein conjugates and to be more specific than alternative techniques applied for determination of coupling densities.     

Characterization of protein-hapten conjugates by mass spectrometry

An hapten 1 designed for the production of catalytic antibodies was synthesized after coupling its precursor 2 to bovine serum albumin (BSA). The conjugates BSA-2 and BSA-1 were characterized by MALDI mass spectrometry. This paper shows that besides the average number of molecules bound to the protein deduced from the molecular ion peak shift, the MALDI technique can also give access to their distribution, bv simulation of the peak.     

Characterization of protein conjugates using capillary electrophoresis

With the aim of generating antibodies, a calix[4]arene-crown-6 was coupled to bovine serum albumin. For that purpose, a complete procedure to optimize and characterize the coupling of hydrophobic haptens based on capillary electrophoresis (CE) was developed. We demonstrated the existence of a polynomial relationship between the electrophoretic mobility (mu(ep)) and the hapten density. This correlation was used not only to study the coupling reaction in terms of optimization and kinetics but also to determine the average coupling molar ratio of any given conjugate. An estimation of the heterogeneity of these conjugates by simulation of experimental peaks was also proposed.     

Competitive Chemiluminescent Immunoassay for the Sensitive Point-of-Care Determination of Metoprolol

A competitive chemiluminescence immunoassay which can be used for point-of-care testing and blood screening of metoprolol is reported. Four haptens for metoprolol were synthesized. An octanedioic acid-modified hapten was conjugated with bovine serum albumin to serve as the immunogen and the haptens were conjugated with ovalbumin for the coating antigen. Polyclonal antibodies for metoprolol were produced and the detection conditions were optimized. A competitive chemiluminescence immunoassay was established based on the produced antibody with potential for bedside therapeutic monitoring of metoprolol. The limit of detection in phosphate-buffered saline was 2?ng?mL^?1. Satisfactory recovery values from 89.3 to 107.6% in plasma were achieved. The results provided by the reported method were consistent with values obtained by high-performance liquid chromatography for pharmacokinetic studies. The immunoassay has potential to be developed as a test kit offering a simple and cost-effective approach for on-site monitoring of metoprolol.     

Characterization and optimization of heroin hapten-BSA conjugates: method development for the synthesis of reproducible hapten-based vaccines

A potential new treatment for drug addiction is immunization with vaccines that induce antibodies that can abrogate the addictive effects of the drug of abuse. One of the challenges in the development of a vaccine against drugs of abuse is the availability of an optimum procedure that gives reproducible and high yielding hapten-protein conjugates. In this study, a heroin/morphine surrogate hapten (MorHap) was coupled to bovine serum albumin (BSA) using maleimide-thiol chemistry. MorHap-BSA conjugates with 3, 5, 10, 15, 22, 28, and 34 haptens were obtained using different linker and hapten ratios. Using this optimized procedure, MorHap-BSA conjugates were synthesized with highly reproducible results and in high yields. The number of haptens attached to BSA was compared by 2,4,6-trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid (TNBS) assay, modified Ellman’s test and matrix assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). Among the three methods, MALDI-TOF MS discriminated subtle differences in hapten density. The effect of hapten density on enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) performance was evaluated with seven MorHap-BSA conjugates of varying hapten densities, which were used as coating antigens. The highest antibody binding was obtained with MorHap-BSA conjugates containing 3–5 haptens. This is the first report that rigorously analyzes, optimizes and characterizes the conjugation of haptens to proteins that can be used for vaccines against drugs of abuse. The effect of hapten density on the ELISA detection of antibodies against haptens demonstrates the importance of careful characterization of the hapten density by the analytical techniques described.     

Characterization of Hapten-Protein Conjugates for Immunoassay of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons（PAHs）

Preparation and characterization of the hapten-protein conjugates are fundamental to developing environmental immunoassays. As a hapten, 1-pyrenebutyric acid（PBA） was conjugated to the carrier protein of bovine serum albumin（BSA） or ovalbumin（OVA） by active ester method. Infrared spectra（IR） showed that PBA-BSA and PBA-OVA conjugates were successfully prepared. The number of the haptens conjugated to the carrier protein was determined by ultraviolet spectra（UV） and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry（MALDI-TOF-MS）. The calculated average binding ratios of PBA/BSA and PBA/OVA were 18：1 and 10：1 by UV, and 31：1 and 22：1 by MALDI-TOF-MS, respectively. Although there was a discrepancy between the results determined by the two methods, both of them were useful for the characterization of the hapten-protein conjugates. The antibody was produced against the antigen of PBA-BSA, and the affinity was tested by the double agar diffusion method The conjugates and the antibody could be used for developing a sensitive and selective immunoassay of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons（PAHs）.     

Protein-conjugated nanoparticles from rapid expansion of supercritical fluid solution into aqueous solution

The method of rapid expansion of a supercritical solution into a liquid solvent (RESOLV) was applied to the preparation of bovine serum albumin protein-conjugated silver sulfide nanoparticles. The conjugate samples were characterized by using a series of instrumental techniques. The results show that the monodispersed nanoparticles in the conjugates are well-coated directly with the protein. Because the protein undergoes solution pH-dependent association and dissociation, the protein-nanoparticle conjugates also assemble and disassemble with changes in solution pH in a reversible fashion.     

A new approach for quantitative analysis of l-phenylalanine using a novel semi-sandwich immunometric assay

Here, we describe a novel method for l-phenylalanine analysis using a sandwich-type immunometric assay approach for use as a new method for amino acid analysis. To overcome difficulties of the preparation of high-affinity and selectivity monoclonal antibodies against l-phenylalanine and the inability to use sandwich-type immunometric assays due to their small molecular weight, three procedures were examined. First, amino groups of l-phenylalanine were modified by “N-Fmoc-l-cysteine” (FC) residues and the derivative (FC-Phe) was used as a hapten. Immunization of mice with bovine serum albumin/FC-Phe conjugate successfully yielded specific monoclonal anti-FC-Phe antibodies. Second, a new derivatization reagent, “biotin linker conjugate of FC-Phe N-succinimidyl ester” (FC(Biotin)-NHS), was synthesized to convert l-phenylalanine to FC-(Biotin)-Phe as a hapten structure. The biotin moiety linked to the thiol group of cysteine formed a second binding site for streptavidin/horseradish peroxidase (HRP) conjugates for optical detection. Third, a new semi-sandwich-type immunometric assay was established using pre-derivatized l-phenylalanine, the monoclonal anti-FC-Phe antibody, and streptavidin/HRP conjugate (without second antibody). Using the new “semi-sandwich” immunometric assay system, a detection limit of 35 nM (60 amol per analysis) and a detection range of 0.1–20 μM were attained using a standard l-phenylalanine solution. Rat plasma samples were analyzed to test reliability. Intra-day assay precision was within 6 % of the coefficient of variation; inter-day variation was 0.1 %. The recovery rates were from 92.4 to 123.7 %. This is the first report of the quantitative determination of l-phenylalanine using a reliable semi-sandwich immunometric assay approach and will be applicable to the quantitative determination of other amino acids.     

Synthesis of Protein Conjugates of 2-Carboxy-L-Arabinitol 5-Phosphate and 2-Carboxy-L-Ribitol 5-Phosphate

Abstract

The synthesis of 5-O-[5-(pentanoic acid)]-phosphono-L-erythro-pent-2-ulose 2 was successfully achieved by coupling benzyl 5-hydroxypentanoate 9b and 1-O-benzyl-L-erythro-pent-2-ulose ethane- 1,2-diyl dithioacetal 13 with the enediol pyrophosphate 18. Compound 2 was coupled to carrier proteins, porcine thyroglobuline and bovine serum albumin and the conjugates were treated with KCN to give conjugates of the hapten 1, designed to raise catalytic antibodies.     

硫代磷酸二乙酯类农药半抗原设计及抗体识别特性

通过分析硫代磷酸二乙酯类农药的结构特点, 设计并合成了系列半抗原; 采用活泼酯法将半抗原分别与牛血清蛋白(BSA)和卵清蛋白(OVA)偶联制备了系列免疫原和包被原; 通过免疫新西兰大白兔获得了相应抗硫代磷酸二乙酯类农药的类特异性抗体. 建立检测硫代磷酸二乙酯类农药的间接竞争酶联免疫分析(ELISA)方法, 分析探讨了免疫半抗原结构对抗体特性的影响, 并阐述了包被半抗原结构对ELISA灵敏度的影响规律. 结果表明, 手臂取代位置在苯环对位且手臂较短的免疫原具有较好的免疫效果, 同时异源包被可以显著提高ELISA方法的灵敏度. 由抗体PAb-H1和包被原H6-OVA建立的间接竞争ELISA方法可以同时检测7个广泛使用的有机磷农药, 其半抑制浓度(IC50)分别为蝇毒磷(0.013 mg/L)、对硫磷(0.348 mg/L)、喹硫磷(0.022 mg/L)、三唑磷(0.035 mg/L)、甲拌磷(0.751 mg/L)、除线磷(0.850 mg/L)及辛硫磷(1.301 mg/L), 最低检测限符合国内外相关有机磷药物最大允许残留限量标准(MRLS)的检测要求.     

吡虫啉的酶联免疫吸附分析方法研究

通过碳二亚胺法将吡虫啉交联于牛血清蛋白(BSA)作为免疫抗原,混合酸酐法将吡虫啉交联于卵清蛋白(OVA)作为包被抗原,免疫Balb/c小鼠,采用B细胞杂交瘤技术,经免疫、融合、筛选、克隆,得到抗吡虫啉单克隆抗体,抗体亚类为IgG1,制备的单克隆抗体效价达1×107,确定了吡虫啉酶联免疫吸附分析方法(ELISA)的最佳工作条件,建立了定量测定吡虫啉的间接竞争ELISA方法。本方法的IC50为(15.12±1.28)μg/L,检出限为(1.76±0.02)μg/L。与其它吡虫啉结构类似物无交叉反应。批内相对标准偏差为4.5%;批间相对标准偏差5.1%,饮用水、重庆理工大学地下水和重庆市花溪河地表水平均添加回收率分别为102%,97%和85%。本研究建立了一种快速检测环境水中吡虫啉残留的方法。     

Conformational changes of hapten-protein conjugates resulting in improved broad-specificity and sensitivity of an ELISA for organophosphorus pesticides

The type of hapten linkage to a carrier protein can play an important role in determining the nature of the resulting antibody response. Generic haptens using three types of linkers were synthesized (a monocarboxylic acid, an unsaturated hydrocarbon and a carboxamido spacer). These haptens were conjugated to bovine serum albumin (BSA) and used as immunogens to produce broad-specificity monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) to organophosphorus pesticides (OPs). Three-dimensional (3D) structures of hapten-lysine conjugates were optimized using molecular modeling (MM) to mimic conformations of hapten-BSA conjugates. The results from MM studies revealed a change of the 3D conformation and electrostatic potential of hapten 1 when the monocarboxylic acid linker was coupled to lysine. This result was consistent with the observed high-cross-reactivity of the corresponding MAb-H1 for the OPs. The competitive indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay based on MAb-H1 is ideally suited to be used as a screening method for OP contaminants.     

基于纳米金固定半抗原的电化学免疫传感器灵敏检测克伦特罗

研制了一种基于纳米金固定半抗原的间接竞争电化学免疫传感器,可灵敏检测克伦特罗.在金电极表面组装1,6-己二硫醇单分子膜,通过Au-S共价作用连接纳米金颗粒,通过吸附作用固定克伦特罗牛血清白蛋白偶联物.样品中的待测组分与固定化的克伦特罗偶联物竞争结合单克隆抗体,碱性磷酸酯酶标记的二抗选择性地与电极表面捕获的一抗反应,进而催化底物1-萘酚磷酸酯水解生成1-萘酚,在电极表面氧化产生电信号.在优化的实验条件下,克伦特罗浓度在0.1～1000 μg/L范围内与电流强度线性相关,线性方程为I(A)-8.79× 10-7-2.66× 10-7logC (μg/L),相关系数0.9960,检出限达20 ng/L.同时测定了猪肉及猪肝样品中克伦特罗含量,相对标准偏差平均值为7.0％,加标回收率在89.1％～105.6％之间,与传统的间接竞争酶联免疫吸附法对照,结果无显著性差异.     

Characterization of the Binding Performance of Silica-Based Immunoaffinity Adsorbents Prepared via Online Coupling Reactions

Antibodies against a conjugate of daidzein and bovine serum albumin (BSA) were immobilized onto dihydrazide-activated silica beads via online coupling reactions. The binding performances of the obtained immunoaffinity adsorbents to the corresponding hapten and carrier protein were all optimized and characterized. It was found that online coupling reactions offered a convenient and practical way to generate the requisite immunoaffinity columns. The optimum binding buffers for BSA and daidzein were found to be pH 5.0, 0.01 mol L^?1 phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) and 0.05% Tween-20 in pure water, indicating different interactions between the immobilized antibodies with different parts of the antigen. Under the optimum operating conditions, the silica-based immunoaffinity adsorbents showed specific and selective binding properties to the target protein; while for small molecules, a mixed adsorption mechanism caused by both specific and non-specific interactions was observed. For comparison, offline coupled silica-antibody immunoaffinity adsorbents and Sepharose 4B support immobilized with the same antibody were also prepared and tested. The experimental results of this study may provide useful information for further development of other high-performance immunoaffinity chromatographic methods for different purposes.     

Immunoassay based on peroxidase silver conjugate for the determination of human immunoglobulins against tick-borne borreliosis (lyme disease) by voltammetry and spectrophotometry

In this work two strategies for the synthesis of peroxidase silver conjugates for the qualitative and quantitative determination of immunoglobulins (IgG) to ixodid tick-borne borreliosis (ITBB) (Lyme disease) in human serum were proposed. The first approach for Ab-HRP@AgNP conjugate synthesis involved silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) capped with a commercial peroxidase conjugate (Ab-HRP) by passive adsorption. The second strategy was based on the initial coupling of Ag NPs with human anti-species antibodies (Ab) by passive adsorption followed by the introduction of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) enzyme into the reaction mixture as a blocking reagent for Ab@AgNP@HRP conjugate synthesis. The formation of peroxidase silver conjugates was proved by UV/Vis spectroscopy and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). The catalytic activity of Ab-HRP@AgNP and Ab@AgNP@HRP conjugates was evaluated by Michaelis-Menten kinetics. A commercially available 96-well microtiter plate with recombinant antigens to ITBB was used as a platform for immobilization of analyzed IgG. The HRP in Ab-HRP@AgNP conjugate was found to retain a sufficient level of activity for interaction with the H₂O₂ substrate to form an intensely colored reaction product. Therefore Ab-HRP@AgNP conjugate can be used in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) with spectrophotometric detection of 3,3’,5,5’-Tetramethylbenzidine (TMB Ox) for quantitative determination of IgG to ITBB in human serum in the concentration range 12.5–800 ng ml⁻¹ with LOD 2 ng ml⁻¹. Ab@AgNP@HRP conjugate is recommended for the electrochemical determination of IgG to ITBB in human serum at LOD 3 ng ml⁻¹ with registration of silver oxidation by linear sweep anodic stripping voltammetry (LSASV). Ag NPs in Ab-HRP@AgNP and Ab@AgNP@HRP conjugates do not change electrochemical activity during storage and can be used as an electrochemical label in LSASV method in case of HRP inactivation. The immunoassay based on peroxidase silver conjugates expands the analytical potential for the determination of IgG to ITBB especially during the period of increasing incidence.     

Forchlorfenuron-mimicking haptens: from immunogen design to antibody characterization by hierarchical clustering analysis

To obtain highly-specific and selective forchlorfenuron binders, a collection of functionalized derivatives with different spacer arm locations and lengths was prepared. By immunization with target-mimicking haptens, a large battery of monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies against this synthetic cell regulator was produced and exhaustively characterized in two immunoassay formats using homologous and heterologous conjugates. Antibodies with IC(50) values lower than 0.3 nM were successfully raised from the prepared immunogens, thus evidencing the efficacy of the explored strategies. In order to identify significant epitopes in the antibody-antigen interaction, a series of new chemical forchlorfenuron analogues, with slight modifications at both rings of the target molecule, were synthesized and evaluated in competitive assays. As a novel approach in hapten recognition studies, data processing was performed by computational classification methods based on hierarchical clustering. This strategy was shown to be highly valuable for a straightforward profiling of antibodies according to analogue recognition patterns. A relationship could be established between the antigen binding properties of antibodies and the structure of the immunogen. Whereas antibodies with equivalent affinities had been obtained from all of the derivatives, their specificity was found to be largely influenced by the differential exposition of the molecule to the immune system.     

Hapten heterology for a specific and sensitive indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for organophosphorus insecticide fenthion

Five haptens with different spacer-arm attachment sites on the structure of the organophosphorus insecticide fenthion were designed and synthesized. All of the haptens were conjugated with ovalbumin (OVA) for the coating antigen, and three haptens containing all or most of the structure of fenthion were conjugated with bovine serum albumin (BSA) for the immunogen. Six polyclonal antisera were raised against the three BSA conjugates, and 30 antibody/coating conjugate combinations were selected for studies of assay sensitivity and specificity for fenthion. The study revealed the best combination with high sensitivity (I₅₀ of 0.08 ng mL⁻¹) and high assay specificity, which indicated that when structural difference between the analyte and an immunizing hapten is less than that between a coating hapten and the immunizing hapten, a high sensitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in the heterologous system may stand a good chance to be developed. The immunity results showed that heterology in the hapten spacer-arm attachment site of the immunogen could achieve a remarkable improvement in the quantity, sensitivity, and/or specificity of antibody, and that the moiety of an analyte, which is the same as the moiety near/on the immunizing spacer-arm hapten attachment site, contributes greatly to the interaction of antibody and hapten.     

Oligothiophene isothiocyanates as a new class of fluorescent markers for biopolymers.

The regioselective synthesis of fluorescent oligothiophene isothiocyanates is described. The isothiocyanates were reacted with bovine serum albumin (BSA) following standard procedures and the optical properties of the oligothiophene-BSA conjugates were analyzed as a function of oligomer concentration, time, and irradiation power. The oligothiophene-BSA conjugates were chemically very stable and their photoluminescence characteristics persisted unaltered for several months. Photoluminescence data relative to the conjugate of an oligothiophene-S,S-dioxide isothiocyanate with monoclonal anti-CD8 antibody are reported. No fluorescence quenching was observed following the binding of the isothiocyanate to the antibody and the conjugate displayed high chemical stability and photostability.