Development and characterization of a chitosan-supported immunoaffinity chromatography column for the selective extraction of methandrostenolone from food and feed samples

The development of a chitosan-supported immunoaffinity chromatography (IAC) column and its application to the selective extraction of methandrostenolone (MA) from food and feed samples were described in this paper. Using hybridoma technique, a monoclonal antibody (mAb) against MA was produced. The IAC column was prepared by coupling the produced antibody with crosslinked chitosan. Scanning electron microscopy and IR spectroscopy was used to characterize the chitosan crosslinking and antibody coupling. 2% and 90% methanol were respectively selected as loading and eluting solution by optimization. The maximum capacity of the column for MA was 1790 ng/mL gel. The extraction recoveries of the column for MA at three different spiked concentrations ranged from 83.7 to 98.5%. After 2 cycles of usage, the column capacity and extraction recovery still remained 84.6% and 80.5%. To further verify the effect of matrix on the IAC cleanup, MA-fortified food and feed samples were extracted using the prepared IAC column, and MA recovery rates were found to be 86.2% and 70.4%, respectively.