Highly selective monoclonal antibody-based fluorescence immunochromatographic assay for the detection of fenpropathrin in vegetable and fruit samples

Abstract

Fenpropathrin (FPT) is a typical pyrethroid pesticide that can cause chronic toxicity to humans. Herein, an anti-FPT monoclonal antibody (mAb) was elicited via a novel hapten synthesized by introducing a carboxyl-containing spacer arm in the cyclopropane moiety of FPT. Characterized by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), the mAb exhibited high affinity and selectivity to FPT with a half-maximal inhibitory concentration of 31.05 μg/L and negligible cross-reactivities with analogs of pyrethroids. Based on the mAb, a fluorescence immunochromatographic assay (FICA) for FPT detection was firstly developed. The detection limit of the FICA is 0.012 mg/kg which is much lower than the maximum residue limit of FPT for food samples. The average recoveries of FPT from spiked food samples by the FICA were 85.0–105.0%, and the obtained results were in good agreement with those of gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Overall, this work provided a reliable tool suitable for the detection of FPT residue for large-scale samples in a rapid and cost-effective manner.