Development of Anti-Isoproturon Polyclonal Antibody

A competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay （ELISA） suitable for the determination of the urea herbicide isoproturon, 3-（4-isopropylphenyl）-l,l-dimethylurea, in food and environmental samples was developed. Two haptens named 1-（3- carboxypropyl）-3-（4-isopropylphenyl）-1-methylurea （hapten 4C） and 1-（5-carboxypentyl）-3-（4-isopropylphenyl）-1- methylurea （hapten 6C） were synthesized. The haptens were coupled to bovine serum albumin （BSA） and ovalbumin （OVA）, respectively, using the N-hydroxysuccinimide reaction. The hapten 6C-BSA conjugate was used as the immunogen, with which a high-titer anti-isoproturon polyclonal antibody （pAb） was successfully obtained by immunization of New Zealand white rabbits. The hapten 4C-OVA conjugate was used as coating antigen and a method of the indirect competitive ELISA for isoproturon was established. The haptens were confirmed with TLC, IR, and 1H NMR. The conjugation molar ratios of hapten 4C to OVA and hapten 6C to BSA were 36：1 and 46：1, respectively, as calculated by a UV spectrophotometry. The highest titer of the anti-isoproturon sera determined by a non-competitive indirect ELISA procedure was 1.6 × 10^5. The optimal concentrations of the coating antigen and the dilution of the anti-isoproturon sera used in the ELISA were 0.1 mg·L^-1 and 1.0 × 10^5, respectively. The concentration of isoproturon that inhibits 50% of antibody-antigen binding （IC50） was 0.07 mg·mL^-1. The cross-reactivities of six urea herbicides including chlorbromuron, fluometuron, monolinuron were lower than 0.1%. Isoproturon is a small molecule without immune activity and active functional group for attaching to carrier protein. To produce an antibody against isoproturon with high titer and high specificity is the most important step in the development of an immunochemical method for the determination of isoproturon in food and environmental samples. The two haptens synthesized in this study have carboxyl groups and accommodate different lengths of spacer arms, and the phenyl and isopropyl groups are fully exposed. An anti-isoproturon polyclonal antibody with high titer and high specificity was successfully obtained by immunization of rabbits with the conjugate of the hapten attached to the protein carrier.

Application of Current Hapten in the Production of Broad Specificity Antibodies Against Organophosphorus Pesticides

Diethylphosphono acetic acid （DPA） was used as a current hapten to generate broad specificity polycolonal antibodies against a group of organophosphorus pesticides. Six New Zealand white rabbits were immunized with immunogens synthesized by the active ester method （AEM） or 1-ethyl-3-（3-dimethylaminopropyl）-carbodimide method （EDC）. The titers of antisera reached 25 600 by AEM and 6 400 by EDC, respectively. Polyclonal antibodies raised against DPA were screened and selected for the competitive indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay （CI-ELISA）. A CI-ELISA for DPA was developed with a detection limit of 3.536 ng mL^-1and an I50 value of 0.182 μg mL^-1. The assay specificity was evaluated by obtaining competitive curves for several structurally related compounds as competitors. The antiserum showed high affinities to chlorpyrifos, diazinon, omethoate, parathion-ethyl and profenofos with I50 of 0.12, 0.15, 0.21, 0.88, 0.97 and 2.5 μg mL^-1, respectively. The results indicate that the assay could be a screening tool for quantitation and semiquantitation determination of the above former five organophosphorus pesticides.