Synthesis of a newly designed artificial antigen and preparation of a polyclonal antibody against salbutamol

Salbutamol is a beta-agonist which is strictly prohibited in food production. Designing a rapid immunoassay detection method is essential for effective supervision, and synthesis of antigen is the key to successful antibody production. In this study, a new method of synthesising immunogen and coating antigen for ELISA was established, using methanal as a linker to connect salbutamol sulphate with the carrier proteins bovine serum albumin and ovalbumin. The conjugates were identified through UV spectrophotometry and SDS-PAGE, and the amino groups in proteins were measured using 2,4,6,-trinitrobenzenesulphonic acid. Immunisation of rabbits with immunogen produced a polyclonal antibody with high sensitivity and specificity. Indirect and competitive indirect ELISAs were used to determine antibody titre and IC50, which were 1,280,000 and 0.736 ng mL(-1), respectively.