A new generic enzyme immunoassay for sulfonamides

The study was directed to the development of generic immunoenzyme assay for sulfonamides. N-sulfanil-4- aminobutyric acid which mimics the common part of sulfonamides was used as immunogenic hapten. The obtained rabbit polyclonal antibodies allowed detection of the N-sulfanil-4-aminobutyric acid in indirect competitive immunoenzyme assay down to 0.03 ng ml(-1). The lowest detection limit for the sulfonamides tested, 0.1 ng ml(-1), was observed for sulfamethoxypyridazine. Eleven other sulfonamides could be determined at concentrations ranging from 1-37 ng ml(-1). Thus, the proposed technique can be used in class-specific sulfonamides detection in products of animal origin.