Development of a specific monoclonal antibody assay and a rapid testing strip for the detection of apramycin residues in food samples

A specific monoclonal antibody (MAb) against apramycin (AP) was produced and used to develop an indirect competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (idcELISA) and a rapid testing strip for the detection of AP residues in foods. MAb exhibited negligible cross-reactivity with other aminoglycosides. Under optimized conditions in 0.01 M PBS, the half maximum inhibitory concentration (IC50) of MAb was 0.41 ng/ml with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.15 ng/ml. The ELISA results were obtained within 90 min. The mean recoveries from all the spiked food samples were within the range of 79.02-105.49%, with coefficients of variation in the range of 2.21-11.4%. The strip test results obtained within 5 min had visual LODs in the range 2.5-5 mu g/kg (ng/ml) for all food samples tested. Therefore, the developed strip test represents a fast and convenient detection method of AP residues in foods.