Tetracycline ELISA

Enzyme immunoassay for the quantitative determination of Tetracyclines in food.

Background: Tetracyclines belong to the group of antibiotics. The first identified tetracycline, Chlortetracycline, was islolated from Streptomyces aureofaciens by Benjamin Minge Duggar in 1948. In the following years many other tetracyclines were detected and characterized. Tetracyclines bind specifically to prokaryotic ribosomes, thereby inhibiting bacterial protein biosynthesis. In most countries tetracyclines are accepted in food production. Since the ingestion of tetracyclines presents a potential risk to the consumer the maximum amount of tetracycline residues in food is regulated in most countries. For example in the EU Regulation No 37/2010 the maximum residue limits for the sum of the parent drug and its 4-epimer are defined as 100 µg/kg (ppb) for muscle and milk. Thus a monitoring of food with respect to the concentration of tetracyclines is obligatory.
Tetracycline ELISA represents a highly sensitive detection system and is particulary capable of the rapid quantification of tetracycline contaminations in meat, milk, milk powder, cheese, shrimps and honey.

Description: The Tetracycline quantitative test is based on the principle of the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. An antibody directed against tetracyclines is coated on the surface of a microtiter plate. Tetracylines containing samples or standards and a tetracycline-peroxidase conjugate are given into the wells of the microtiter plate. The conjugate competes with the tetracyclines of the samples/standards for the limited number of antibody sites. After 60 minutes incubation at room temperature the wells are washed with diluted washing solution to remove unbound material. A substrate solution is added and incubated for 20 minutes, resulting in the development of a blue colour. The colour development is inhibited by the addition of a stop solution, and the colour turns yellow. The yellow colour is measured photometrically at 450 nm. The concentration of tetracyclines is indirectly proportional to the colour intensity of the test sample.

Product Features:
- The kit contains reagents for 96 determinations;
- Microtiter plate consisting of 12 strips with 8 breakable wells;
- Tetracycline Standards: 0, 0.04, 0.1, 0.4, 1, 4 ng/mL;
- ELISA reader at 450 nm;
- Standard range: 0.04 - 4 ng/mL;
- Sensitivity analytical: 0.024 ng/mL.