Progress Toward Development of Monoclonal Antibodies to Saxitoxin; Antigen Preparation and Antibody Detection

摘要

Saxitoxin (STX) was conjugated to bovine serum albumin (BSA), keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH), horse IgG, human IgG, and egg albumin with 1.4% formaldehyde. Only BSA and KLH bound significant quantities of STX. Balb/c mice were immunized (i.n.) with each conjugate. After four immunizations only KLH-STX induced STX binding antibodies. These antibodies were detected by their ability to displace 3H-STX from rat brain membranes in a rapid filtration assay. An ELISA was more developed for detection of STX binding antibodies. The ELISA is more sensitive than the 3H-STX displacement assay and is able to handle approx. 2000 samples in 8 hours. These methods are currently being used to develop monoclonal antibodies to STX.