title: A rapid enzyme-immunoassay for the detection of ciguatoxin in contaminated fish tissues.
abstract: An enzyme-immunoassay procedure for the detection of ciguatoxin has been developed using the sheep anti-ciguatoxin serum described earlier in the radioimmunoassay method for ciguatoxin. In the enzyme-immunoassay procedure, the sheep anti-ciguatoxin was coupled to horseradish peroxidase. Analyses of fish tissues showed that the enzyme-immunoassay procedure distinguished between clinically documented toxic and nontoxic tissues (P less than 0.001). Comparisons of the enzyme-immunoassay method with the radioimmunoassay for ciguatoxin and with a mouse bioassay demonstrated significant associations (P less than 0.001 and P less than 0.01, respectively). Preliminary studies showed that purified ciguatoxin inhibited the binding of sheep anti-ciguatoxin horseradish peroxidase to toxic fish tissues. Results suggest that the enzyme-immunoassay procedure may be valuable for routine direct assessment of ciguatoxin in fish tissues because of its practicality, sensitivity and specificity.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002922:Ciguatoxins / Q000032:analysis*; D005399:Fishes; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D008387:Marine Toxins / Q000032:analysis*; D011863:Radioimmunoassay
chemical_list: D008387:Marine Toxins; D002922:Ciguatoxins