Tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) is a ubiquitous brominated flame retardant, showing widespread environmental and human exposures. A variable domain of the heavy chain antibody (VHH), naturally occurring in camelids, approaches the lower size limit of functional antigen-binding entities. The ease of genetic manipulation makes such VHHs a superior choice to use as an immunoreagent. In this study, a highly selective anti-TBBPA VHH T3-15 fused with alkaline phosphatase (AP) from E. coli was expressed, showing both an integrated TBBPA-binding capacity and enzymatic activity. A one-step immunoassay based on the fusion protein T3-15-AP was developed for TBBPA in 5% dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)/phosphate buffered saline (PBS, pH 7.4), with a half-maximum signal inhibition concentration (IC50) of 0.20 ng mL–1. Compared to the parental VHH T3-15, T3-15-AP was able to bind to a wider variety of coating antigens and the assay sensitivity was slightly improved. Cross-reactivity of T3-15-AP with a set of important brominated analogues was negligible (<0.1%). Although T3-15-AP was susceptible to extreme heat (90 °C), much higher binding stability at ambient temperature was observed in the T3-15-AP-based assay for at least 70 days. A simple pretreatment method of diluting urine samples with DMSO was developed for a one-step assay. The recoveries of TBBPA from urine samples via this one-step assay ranged from 96.7% to 109.9% and correlated well with a high-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectroscopy (HPLC-MS/MS) method. It is expected that the dimerized fusion protein, VHH-AP, will show promising applications in human exposure and environmental monitoring.

Tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) is a ubiquitous flame retardant. A high-throughput immunoassay would allow for monitoring of human and environmental exposures as a part of risk assessment. Naturally occurring antibodies in camelids that are devoid of light chain, show great promise as an efficient tool in monitoring environmental contaminants, but they have been rarely used for small molecules. An alpaca was immunized with a TBBPA hapten coupled to thyroglobulin and a variable domain of heavy chain antibody (VHH) T3–15 highly selective for TBBPA was isolated from a phage displayed VHH library using heterologous coating antigens. Compared to the VHHs isolated using homologous antigens, VHH T3–15 had about a 10-fold improvement in sensitivity in an immunoassay. This assay, under the optimized conditions of 10% methanol in the assay buffer (pH 7.4), had an IC50 for TBBPA of 0.40 ng mL–1 and negligible cross reactivity (<0.1%) with other tested analogues. After heating the VHH at 90 °C for 90 min about 20% of the affinity for coating antigen T3-BSA remained. The recoveries of TBBPA from spiked soil and fetal bovine serum samples ranged from 90.3% to 110.7% by ELISA and agreed well with a liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry method. We conclude the many advantages of VHH make them attractive for the development of immunoassays to small molecules.

A semiquantitative dip strip assay was developed using nanocolloidal gold-labelled monoclonal antibody (Mab) 8A10 for the rapid detection of Sudan red I in food samples. A protein–Sudan red I conjugate was coated on a nitro cellulose membrane strip in a defined test line. In flow of the complex of nanocolloidal gold labelled-Mab and Sudan red I along the strip, intensive red colour that was formed in the test line reflected the Sudan red I concentration. The test required 10 min and had a visual limit of detection of 10 ng/g Sudan red I in tomato sauce and chilli powder samples. The results of the strip assay agreed well with those of a high performance liquid chromatography method for both spiked and real commercial samples. The strip was stable for at least 2 months at 4 °C. The strip assay offers the potential as a useful rapid and simple method for screening of Sudan red I in food samples.Highlights► A monoclonal antibody specific to Sudan red I was produced. ► A rapid strip assay for Sudan red I has been developed. ► A detection limit of Sudan red I in food samples was 10 ng/g. ► Strip assay results agreed well with those of a HPLC method.

Para red is a synthetic dye and a potential genotoxic carcinogen. A hapten mimicking Para red structure was synthesized by introducing a carboxyl to the naphthol part of Para red and coupled to carrier protein to form an immunogen for the production of specific antibodies. A sensitive and selective enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed for the detection of Para red in food samples. The limit of detection and inhibition half-maximum concentrations of Para red in phosphate buffered saline with 10% methanol were 0.06 and 2.2 ng mL−1, respectively. Cross-reactivity values of the ELISA with the tested compounds including Sudan red I, II, III, IV, and G, sunset yellow, 2-naphthol, and 4-nitroaniline were ≤0.2%. This assay was used to determine Para red in tomato sauce, chilli sauce, chilli powder and sausage samples after ultrasonic extraction, cleanup and concentration steps. The average recoveries, repeatability (intraday extractions and analysis), and intra-laboratory reproducibility (interday extractions and analysis) were in the range 90–108%, 4–12% and 8–17%, respectively. This assay was compared to a high-performance liquid chromatographic method for 28 samples, displaying a good correlation (R2 = 0.95). Para red residues in 53 real world samples determined by ELISA were below the limit of detection.

A sensitive direct enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the specific detection of 2,2′,4,4′-tetrabromodiphenyl ether (BDE-47) in environmental samples was developed. A hapten mimicking BDE-47 was synthesized by introducing a butyric acid spacer into 5-hydroxy-BDE-47 and coupled to keyhole limpet hemocyanin to form an immunogen for the production of monoclonal antibodies (Mabs) against BDE-47. The most sensitive direct ELISA was formatted with a Mab, designated as 4F2, in combination with 5-(2,4-dibromophenoxy)pentanoic acid peroxidase as a tracer. The inhibition half-maximum concentrations and limit of detection of BDE-47 in phosphate buffered saline with 25% DMSO were 1.4 ± 0.05 and 0.1 ng mL−1, respectively. Cross-reactivity values of the ELISA with the tested BDE congeners and metabolites were ≤5.8%. This assay was used to determine BDE-47 in soil, sediment and house dust samples after ultrasonic extraction, simple cleanup and concentration steps. The average recoveries, repeatabilities (intraday extractions and analyses), and intra-laboratory reproducibilities (interday extractions and analyses) were in a range of 92–126%, 8–19% and 9–25%, respectively. Applied to 44 real samples, the results of this assay displayed a statistically significant correlation with those of a gas chromatography–mass spectrometry method (R2 = 0.79-0.85), indicating this ELISA is a suitable tool for environmental analyses of BDE-47.

Marbofloxacin is a fluoroquinolone veterinary antibiotic. An indirect competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed for the detection of marbofloxacin using polyclonal antibody. The half-maximum inhibition concentrations (IC50) and limit of detection (LOD, calculated as IC20) of the ELISA for marbofloxacin in phosphate buffer were 4.6 and 0.6 ng/mL, respectively. The assay showed little cross-reactivity with marbofloxacin structural analogues, except for ofloxacin (148%). Matrixes from the extracts of beef and pork muscle have shown a significant influence on the ELISA. Standard curves of ELISA for marbofloxacin in the extracts of the appropriate marbofloxacin-free control muscles were used in the analysis of marbofloxacin in the animal muscles without any cleanup. The average recoveries of intra- and interassay for marbofloxacin from fortified muscle samples, at five concentrations of 10, 50, 100, 500, and 1000 ng/g, were 87−93 and 84−95%, respectively. The LOD of this assay for marbofloxacin in real muscle extracts was 0.8 ng/mL. A survey of 55 animal muscle samples purchased from local markets by the ELISA was conducted, and marbofloxacin was detected in one of them at a concentration of 22 ng/g. This positive sample was validated by liquid chromatography−electrospray ionization−tandem mass spectrometry (LC−ESI−MS/MS) to be 28 ng/g of marbofloxacin.