An ELISA for sulfonamide detection using affinity-purified polyclonal antibodies

Electrocatalytic response of poly(cobalt tetraaminophthalocyanine)/multi-walled carbon nanotubes-Nafion modified electrode toward sulfadiazine in urine

A highly sensitive amperometric sulfadiazine sensor fabricated by electrochemical deposition of poly(cobalt tetraaminophthalocyanine) (poly(Co(II)TAPc)) on the surface of a multi-walled carbon nanotubes-Nafion (MWCNTs-Nafion) modified electrode is described. This electrode showed a very attractive performance by combining the advantages of Co(II)TAPc, MWCNTs, and Nafion. Compared with the bare glassy carbon electrode (GCE) and the MWCNTs-Nafion modified electrode, the electrocatalytic activity of poly(Co(II)TAPc)-coated MWCNTs-Nafion GCE generated greatly improved electrochemical detections toward sulfadiazine including low oxidation potential, high current responses, and good anti-fouling performance. The oxidation peak currents of sulfadiazine obtained on the new modified electrode increased linearly while increasing the concentration of sulfadiazine from 0.5 to 43.5 μmol/L with the detection limit of 0.17 μmol/L.

Review on enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays for sulfonamide residues in edible animal products

The current status of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) for sulfonamides in edible animal products is reviewed. The attention was focused on the design and synthesis of haptens, conjugation to carrier protein, production of antibody, application of homologous and heterologous systems, as well as the molecular modeling of the haptens and sulfonamides. Researches have shown that sulfonamides seem to be particularly resistant to attempts to produce broad specificity antibodies. By summarizing the available research on sulfonamide ELISAs, it is hoped that it can be considered as a basis for further investigation aimed at developing the most efficient approaches for detection.

Development of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for seven sulfonamide residues and investigation of matrix effects from different food samples

Direct competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) were developed to detect a broad range of sulfonamides in various matrices. Screening for this class of antibiotics in pig muscle, chicken muscle, fish, and egg extracts was accomplished by simple, rapid extraction methods carried out with only phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) buffer. Twenty milliliters of extract solution was added to 4 g of sample to extract the sulfonamide residues, and sample extracts diluted with assay buffer were directly analyzed by ELISA; matrix effects could be avoided with 1:5 dilution of pig muscle, chicken muscle, and egg extracts with PBS and 1:5 dilution of fish extract with 1% bovine serum albumin (BSA)-PBS. For liver sample, the extraction method was a little more complicated; 2 g of sample was added to 20 mL of ethanol, mixed, and then centrifuged. The solvent of 10 mL of the upper liquid was removed, and the residues were dissolved in 10 mL of PBS and then filtered; the filtrate was diluted two-fold with 0.5% BSA-PBS for ELISA. These common methods were able to detect seven sulfonamide residues such as sulfisozole, sulfathiazole, sufameter, sulfamethoxypyridazine, sulfapyridine, sulfamethizole, and sulfachlorpyridazine in pig muscle, liver, chicken muscle, egg, and fish. The assay's detection limits for these compounds were less than 100 microg kg-1. Various extraction methods were tested, and the average recovery (n=3) of 100 microg kg-1 for the matrices was found to range from 77.3 to 123.7%.

Hapten synthesis and development of polyclonal antibody-based multi-sulfonamide immunoassays

This paper reports the synthesis of five sulfonamide derivatives, the production of broad-specificity polyclonal antibodies for immunoassay of sulfonamides, and the analysis of milk samples by developed assay. The three-step synthesis procedure reported in most of the literature was adopted and modified in this study. In the procedure, the purification of the intermediate was avoided and the time of synthesis was shortened from >20 to 6-9 h with improved yields. This method is generally applicable to the synthesis of haptens containing the common structure of sulfonamides. Three haptens were coupled to keyhole limpet hemocyanin, and polyclonal antibodies were obtained from rabbits immunized with these conjugates. Using the antibodies obtained, from one of these was developed an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) based on the competition between free sulfonamides and the hapten-horseradish peroxidase (HRP) conjugates. The hapten-HRP conjugate giving the best competitive results and 11 structurally different sulfonamides showed 50% inhibition at concentrations of <100 ng mL(-1). After removal of the protein with acetone, milk samples were analyzed by ELISA directly; a matrix effect could be avoided when a 1:20 dilution with phosphate-buffered saline was used, and 104-131% recoveries of spiked samples were obtained. The developed immunoassay is suitable to determine sulfisozole, sulfathiazole, sulfameter, sulfamethoxypyridazine, sulfapyridine, and sulfamethizole below the maximum residue limit in milk (100 ng mL(-1) of total sulfonamides) rapidly and reliably.

Analysis of sulphonamide residues in edible animal products: A review

The methods of analysis for sulphonamide residues in edible animal products are reviewed. Sulphonamides are widely used for therapeutic and prophylactic purposes in both humans and animals, sometimes as growth promoters as additives in animal feed. As a result of their widespread use, there is concern about whether the levels used of these drugs can generate serious problems in human health, e.g., allergic or toxic reactions. Several methods for the determination of sulphonamides have been reported in the literature and this review considers high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC/MS), gas chromatography (GC), thin-layer chromatography (TLC), high-performance capillary electrophoresis (HPCE), enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA), biosensor immunoassay (BIA) and microbiological methods. Specific aspects of analysing sulphonamides, such as sample handling, chromatographic conditions and detection methods are discussed. Methods for drug residue monitoring should be accurate, simple, economical in both time and cost, and capable of detecting residues below the maximum residue limits (MRL). The current sulphonamide detection technologies are based on chromatographic methods or bacteriological growth inhibition. The instrumental methods such as HPLC and GC are both sensitive and specific, but are laborious and expensive. Because of the labour-intensive processes, only a few cases of GC methods applied to residue analysis have been published. These methods are suitable for confirmation but not for screening of large numbers of samples. Microbiological methods do not require highly specialized and expensive equipment. They also use highly homogeneous cell populations for testing and thus result in better assay precision. Although HPCE has powerful separation ability, the precision is poor and the instrument still needs to be improved. To date, this technique has not been widely applied to routine analysis. Currently, TLC has been almost replaced by other instrumental analysis. A rapid, sensitive and specific assay is required to detect positive samples in routine analysis, which can then be confirmed for the presence of sulphonamides by HPLC. Immunochemical methods such as ELISA can be simple, rapid and cost-effective, with enough sensitivity and specificity to detect small molecules. This review can be considered as a basis for further research aimed at identifying the most efficient approaches.

Generation of group-specific antibodies against sulfonamides

To develop a sulfonamide-specific ELISA, different attempts were made to obtain monoclonal antibodies specific for the common structure of sulfonamides. In a first approach, sulfanilamide was linked to albumins using glutaraldehyde or a succinimide ester as cross-linker. A weak immune response or none at all was induced after immunization of mice with those conjugates. High antibody titers were obtained with conjugates where sulfanilamide was linked to albumins or casein (azocasein) with a diazotation reaction. However, the antibodies were only highly specific for the bound sulfanilamide molecule. In a second approach, sulfonamide-protein conjugates were used in which the sulfonamide molecule is linked at its side chain, leaving the common structure of sulfonamides unchanged. Three sulfonamide derivatives (S, TS, and PS, previously described in the literature) containing a carboxyl group in their side chain were linked to proteins using a carbodiimide mediated reaction. Immunization with the S-conjugates led to high antibody titers, but the antibodies were only highly specific for the bound S-molecule. Group-specific antibodies were obtained after immunization with the PS- and TS-conjugates. It was described that immunization with PS-conjugates lead to the recognition of other sulfonamides (sulfamethazine, -merazine, -diazine, and -dimethoxine) that are not well recognized by antibodies induced after immunization with TS-conjugates. Therefore, we tried to guide the immune response in the direction of recognition of the common structure of sulfonamides by immunizing the animals alternately with PS- and TS-conjugates. The polyclonal antibodies of the mice indeed had a broader specificity, but the specificity of the monoclonals obtained after fusion experiments was not influenced. Immunization with TS-conjugates seemed sufficient to obtain sulfonamide-specific monoclonal antibodies. With the best monoclonal (mAb 3B5B10E3) two competitive inhibition (ci) ELISA's were developed: one coated with antigen and the other coated with the monoclonal antibody. Sulfadiazine, -dimethoxine, -thiazole, -pyridine, and -methoxazole were detected in both ELISA's at their MRL-value (100 ppb) in buffer solution. Sulfadiazine, sulfathiazole, and sulfamethoxazole could even be detected at 10 ppb.

A sensitive method for detection of sulfamethazine and N4-acetylsulfamethazine residues in environmental samples using solid phase immunoextraction coupled with MALDI-TOF MS

Sulfamethazine (SMT) and its major metabolite, N(4)-acetylsulfamethazine (NA-SMT), were each recovered from spiked water (0.1 ppb) and 10% (w/v) aqueous suspensions of soil (1 ppb) or composted manure (1 ppb), by using a three-stage solid phase immunoextraction (SPIE) system, followed by detection with matrix-assisted laser/desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). Sulfonamide recovery rates are reported for separate stages of the SPIE system and for trace-level sulfonamide SPIE extraction from the environmental samples. SPIE MALDI-TOF MS is a rapid and definitive technique with potentially better efficiency relative to other established trace-level sulfonamide analytical methods. SPIE MALDI-TOF MS required 1.5 h per batch (8-24 samples/batch) for sample enrichment, 5 min per batch for probe preparation, and 5 min per sample to acquire and process the spectrum. This is the first time MALDI-TOF MS has been reported as a potential means of detecting trace-level drug residues in complex environmental samples.

Insulin receptor at the mouse hepatocyte nucleus after a glucose meal induces dephosphorylation of a 30-kDa transcription factor and a concomitant increase in malic enzyme gene expression

Insulin receptor translocation to the nucleus may represent a mechanism for activation of transcription factors controlling lipogenic gene expression in the mouse hepatocyte. Insulin stimulation was achieved in vivo by oral glucose feeding of mice deprived of food for 24 h. Hepatocytes were fractionated after the glucose meal and nuclei were purified. Insulin receptor levels and phosphorylation state in nuclei were assessed by immunoassay. Insulin receptor significantly increased from basal levels in hepatocyte nuclei within 15 min of the glucose meal. Immunoassay using antiphosphotyrosine indicated that phosphorylation of nuclear insulin receptor increased, whereas phosphorylation of a 30-kDa DNA-binding protein significantly decreased within 15 min of the glucose meal. Glucose treatment significantly increased expression of malic enzyme within the time frame of insulin receptor translocation to the nucleus. Nuclear protein binding to an insulin response element (IRE) within the malic enzyme gene promoter significantly increased within 15 min of the glucose meal. When cell nuclei were isolated from mice that had been deprived of food and treated in vitro with purified, activated insulin receptor, changes were observed in DNA-binding protein phosphorylation and IRE-binding in the absence of cytoplasmic insulin signaling. In vitro incubation of nuclei with activated insulin receptor significantly decreased phosphorylation of a 30-kDa DNA-binding protein compared with basal levels. Increased binding of nuclear proteins to malic enzyme IRE was observed upon stimulation of isolated nuclei with activated insulin receptor. These results suggest that nuclear insulin receptors induce malic enzyme gene expression by regulating phosphorylation of IRE transcription factors.

Obese mice have higher insulin receptor levels in the hepatocyte cell nucleus following insulin stimulation in vivo with an oral glucose meal

Internalization of the insulin receptor occurs following insulin binding at the cell surface, which serves to attenuate the insulin signal as well as modulate the number of surface insulin receptors. Obese animals exhibit decreased cell surface insulin receptor number as well as defects in insulin receptor internalization and processing. The insulin receptor may also translocates to the nucleus of hepatocytes and adipocytes following stimulation of cells with insulin. The objective of this study was to determine if insulin receptor trafficking to the hepatocyte cell nucleus could be observed in vivo and whether this process was altered in obese compared to lean mice. Mice were fasted for 12 h to reduce serum insulin to basal levels. Animals were then given an oral meal of glucose to stimulate the binding of insulin to receptor in vivo. Hepatocyte plasma membrane and nuclei were fractionated to purity following the glucose meal. Levels of insulin receptor were determined using insulin binding assays and a Western blotting assay using anti-insulin receptor antibody. As the amount of serum insulin increased following the glucose meal, a corresponding increase in nuclear insulin binding occurred in lean animals but not obese animals (P<0.05). Following the glucose meal, insulin receptor detected in the cell nucleus was increased in obese compared to lean mice (P<0.05). Thus insulin receptor translocation to the nucleus was demonstrated in vivo following a glucose meal in hepatocytes of both lean and obese animals. It is suggested that serum hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia in obese mice increased translocation of the insulin receptor to the nucleus.