Application of immunoassay to microquantitation of environmental endocrine disruptors—dioxins-specific immunoassay

• Published in: Biomedical Research 2004, Vol.25(1), pp.9-15
• Main Authors: IWAMOTO, Ken-ichi, KATO, Ikuo, YU, Xinmin, NAGASAWA, Shingo, KODAIRA, Tsukasa, OISHI, Etsuo, KITAMURA, Kazuyuki, USUKI, Yasuteru, OHNO, Yoshifumi, YANAIHARA, Noboru
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Endocrine disruptors
• ISSN: 0388-6107; 1880-313X
• DOI: 10.2220/biomedres.25.9

Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins belong to a group of widespread environmental endocrine disruptors (EEDs). They are highly stable and have diverse biological activities, especially strong toxicity and carcinogenecity. As a part of our studies on EEDs microquantitation in biological and environmental specimens, the present study developed a simple, sensitive and rapid enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method for the dioxins with a novel type of labeled antigen, in which two Arg residues were introduced to improve the solubility of highly hydrophobic dioxins in aqueous medium. The assay system was proved to recognize the tetra- and trichlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins to the same extent, so that the latter of little toxicity could be used as standard antigen. The system could detect the standard antigen in a range of 100 pg∼1,000 ng/mL, which supports usefulness of the system for practical microquantitation of the dioxins in biological and environmental specimens. The dioxins concentrations in soil samples measured by the ELISA showed high correlation (r = 0.978) with those by the conventional gas chromatography / mass spectrometry method. It was concluded that the ELISA system specific for the dioxins is rapid and simple method and will be useful especially for screening of large numbers of samples in terms of dioxins contamination.