Novel monoclonal antibody-based immunochromatographic strip for detecting citrinin in fruit from Zhejiang province, China

Citrinin (CIT) is a hepato-nephrotoxic fungal metabolite produced by the genera Penicillium, Aspergillus and Monascu. There is an increasing demand for rapid and economical methods for detection CIT residues in fruit. In this study, we developed an immunochromatographic strip (ICS) for detection of citrinin (CIT) residues in fruit for the first time. Anti-CIT monoclonal antibody (McAb) 2B9 was prepared, with a binding affinity of 9.39 × 10(8) L/moL. Conjugates CIT-BSA and McAb 2B9 were used to develop the ICS which could be completed in 5 min, with the detection limit of 50 ng/mL and no cross reactivity with other mycotoxins. Analysis of CIT in 64 fruit samples revealed that data obtained from the ICS test were in good agreement with indirect competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ic-ELISAs) and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). This result demonstrated that the ICS test could be used as a rapid, reliable, cost-effective and user-friendly qualitative tool for detection of CIT residues on-site.