Development of a highly sensitive and specific monoclonal antibody-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for detection of Sudan I in food samples

The use of Sudan I as an additive in food products has been prohibited in the European Union and many other countries. In this study, a highly sensitive and specific monoclonal antibody (mAb)-based indirect competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the detection of Sudan I in food samples was developed. The hapten derivative with a three-carbon-atom length of carboxylic spacer at the azobound para-position was synthesized and coupled to carrier proteins. The hapten–bovine serum albumin (BSA) conjugate was used as an immunogen, while the hapten–ovalbumin (OVA) conjugate was applied as a coating antigen. The mAb against Sudan I was produced by hybridoma technique and the corresponding ELISA was characterized in terms of sensitivity, specificity, precision and accuracy. At optimal experimental conditions, the standard curve was constructed in concentrations of 0.1–100 ng mL−1. The values of IC50 for nine standard curves were in the range of 1.1–2.0 ng mL−1 and the LOD at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3 (S/N = 3) was 0.07–0.14 ng mL−1. The cross-reactivity values of the mAb with Sudan II, III and IV were 9.5%, 33.9% and 0.95%; no cross-reactivity was found with other six edible colorants: Lemon yellow, Bright blue, Indigotin, Kermes, Amarant and Sunset yellow, indicating the assay displays not only high sensitivity but also high specificity as well. The organic solvent effect on the assay was tested. It was observed that the ELISA was tolerated to 30% of methanol and 10% of acetonitrile without significant loss of IC50 value. Six food samples were spiked with Sudan I and the methanolic extracts after appropriate dilution were analyzed by ELISA. Acceptable recovery rates of 88.2–110.5% and coefficients of variation of 2.5–17.4% were obtained. The ELISA for nine spiked samples was confirmed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with a high correlation coefficient of 0.9840 (n = 9). The mAb-based ELISA proven to be a feasible quantitative/screening method for Sudan I analysis in food samples with the properties of high sensitivity, specificity, simplicity of sample pretreatment, high sample throughput and low expense.