The broad-spectrum and ultra-sensitive detection of zeranol and its analogues by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in cattle origin samples

Mengqi Yin; Xiaofei Hu; Yaning Sun; Yunrui Xing; Shujun Chai; Guangxu Xing; Yanyan Yang; Man Teng; Qingmei Li; Yao Wang; Ruiguang Deng; Gaiping Zhang

doi:10.1039/d0ra02936j

The broad-spectrum and ultra-sensitive detection of zeranol and its analogues by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in cattle origin samples

RSC Adv. 2020 Jun 2;10(35):20809-20816. doi: 10.1039/d0ra02936j. eCollection 2020 May 27.

Authors

Mengqi Yin^{1

2}, Xiaofei Hu², Yaning Sun², Yunrui Xing², Shujun Chai², Guangxu Xing², Yanyan Yang², Man Teng², Qingmei Li², Yao Wang³, Ruiguang Deng², Gaiping Zhang^{1

2

4}

Affiliations

¹ School of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University Wuxi Jiangsu 214122 China zhanggaip@126.com.
² Key Laboratory of Animal Immunology, Henan Academy of Agricultural Sciences Zhengzhou 450002 China.
³ College of Food and Bioengineering, Henan University of Science and Technology Luoyang 471023 China.
⁴ College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Henan Agricultural University Zhengzhou 450002 China.

Abstract

Zeranol (α-zearalanol) has been used as a growth promoter in livestock since 1969 in some non-EU countries; the residues of zeranol and its five analogues in animal origin foods may endanger human health due to their strong estrogenic and anabolic activities. Therefore, it is urgent to establish simple, rapid, real-time, broad-spectrum and high-sensitivity detection methods for the residues of zeranol and its analogues. In this study, an ultrasensitive indirect-competition enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ic-ELISA) was established for the rapid multi-residue detection of zeranol and its five analogues in cattle origin samples, which was based on a broad-spectrum monoclonal antibody (mAb) that specifically bound to zeranol and its analogues with high sensitivity. The half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) values for zeranol, β-zearalanol, zearalanone, α-zearalenol, β-zearalenol, and zearalenone were 0.103, 0.080, 0.161, 0.177, 0.254, and 0.194 ng mL^-1, respectively, the recovery rates of cattle origin samples spiked with zeranol ranged from 79.2-104.2%, and the coefficient of variation (CV) values were less than 11.4%. Excellent correlation (R ² = 0.9845) was obtained between the results of HPLC-MS/MS and ic-ELISA. In conclusion, the developed ic-ELISA could be employed as an ultrasensitive and broad-spectrum detection method for monitoring trace ZEN residues in cattle origin foods.