Rapid Immunochemical Methods for Anatoxin-a Monitoring in Environmental Water Samples

Algal blooms that contaminate freshwater resources with cyanotoxins constitute, nowadays, a global concern. To deal with this problem, a variety of analytical methods, including immuno-chemical assays, are available for the main algal toxins, for example, microcystins, nodularins, and saxitoxins, with the remarkable exception of anatoxin-a. Now, for the first time, highly sensitive, enantioselective immunoassays for anatoxin-a have been validated using homemade monoclonal antibodies. Two competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays were developed in different formats, with detection limits for (+)-anatoxin-a of 0.1 ng/mL. Excellent recovery values between 82 and 117%, and coefficients of variation below 20%, were observed using environmental water samples fortified between 0.5 and 500 ng/mL. In addition, a lateral-flow immunochromatographic assay was optimized for visual and instrumental reading of results. This test showed a visual detection limit for (+)-anatoxin-a of 4 ng/mL. Performance with a reader was validated in accordance with the European guidelines for semiquantitative rapid methods for small chemical contaminants. Thus, at a screening target concentration of 2 ng/mL, the probability of a blank sample to be classified as suspect was as low as 0.2%. Finally, the optimized direct enzyme immunoassay was validated by comparison with high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectroscopy data and showed a good correlation (r = 0.995) with a slope of 0.94. Moreover, environmental water samples containing more than 2 ng/mL of anatoxin-a were detected by the developed dipstick assay. These results provide supplementary and complementary strategies for monitoring the presence of anatoxin-a in water.

Automated summary

Sensitive and selective immunological assays for anatoxin-a have been developed using homemade monoclonal antibodies. The assays have low detection limits, good recovery rates, and are applicable in different formats. A visual detection method with a relatively low limit of detection has also been optimized. The accuracy of the method has been validated by comparison with high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectroscopy data.