Development of a polyclonal antibody-based indirect competitive ELISA for the determination of tetrodotoxins in marine ribbon worms (NEMERTEA) and its comparison with high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

Abstract

Tetrodotoxin (TTX) is a potent neurotoxin frequently occurring in marine organisms along with its numerous analogues. To determine the total TTX content, we developed an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique utilizing polyclonal antibodies against TTX. The technique was tested using extracts of marine worms of the phylum Nemertea and confirmed by HPLC-MS/MS. It proved to be suitable for a preliminary assessment of the toxicity of marine organisms.

Keywords: Antibodies; ELISA; Guanidinium toxins; HPLC-MS/MS; Tetrodotoxin; Tetrodotoxin analogues.