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Title: MONOCLONAL ANTIBODY TO FENBENDAZOLE: UTILITY IN RESIDUE STUDIES

Author
item Brandon, David
item Bates, Anne
item Montague Jr, William

Submitted to: Food and Agricultural Immunology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/6/2002
Publication Date: 12/1/2002
Citation: Brandon, D.L., Bates, A.H., Montague Jr, W.C. 2002. Monoclonal antibody to fenbendazole: utility in residue studies. Food and Agricultural Immunology. 14:275-283.

Interpretive Summary: Because of concern for the safety of the food supply, regulatory tolerances have been established for residues of veterinary drugs used in animal management. Foods such as milk and beef products are randomly tested for residues, typically by procedures relying on hazardous solvents. This paper describes a method to test for residues of fenbendazole, an anti-worm drug, using a monoclonal antibody-based assay conducted in water solution. This test proved applicable to both liver and milk samples, and is particularly useful for screening samples, most of which fall below regulatory tolerances.

Technical Abstract: A monoclonal antibody-based ELISA was developed for fenbendazole, a widely used benzimidazole anthelmintic, with approved uses in cattle and other food animals. The antibody was elicited using as hapten 2-succinamido-5(6)-phenylthiobenzimidazole, which was conjugated with bovine serum albumin to produce an immunogen and with horseradish peroxidase, to prepare a labelled ligand. The ELISA was performed on aqueous extracts of bovine liver or diluted milk samples. In bovine liver, the limit of detection was 200 ppb; in the milk matrix, the limit of detection was 3 ppb. The ELISA method is a simple approach to screen food samples for residues of fenbendazole.