A highly specific and sensitive indirect competitive monoclonal ELISA for the detection of brombuterol in animal feed, swine urine, pork and liver samples

Brombuterol, a new beta-adrenergic agonist to enhance animal growth and increase feeding efficiency, is forbidden as an additive in animal feed for livestock production due to its adverse effects on consumers. In this study, a highly specific and sensitive monoclonal antibody was obtained and an indirect competitive monoclonal ELISA was developed to detect brombuterol, with an IC50 value of 0.1 mu g/kg (mu g/L) and no cross-reactivity to other structurally related beta-adrenergic agonists. The average recovery of brombuterol using the icELISA method ranged from 72.9% to 106.4% with the coefficient of variation lower than 18.9%, which was determined by analysing spiked animal feed, swine urine, pork and liver samples (n = 5). Finally, the icELISA gave results having a good correlation with those obtained by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. These results demonstrated that the developed icELISA for the detection of brombuterol is highly specific, sensitive, and reliable, indicating good potential for use in the area of food safety to improve consumer protection.

Automated summary

A highly specific and sensitive icELISA method was developed to detect Brombuterol in animal feed and pork samples, with results showing good correlation with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, demonstrating its potential for improving consumer protection in the area of food safety.