We explored the feasibility of developing immunoassay technology with a linear carrier, to develop a simpler and cheaper rapid immunoassay technology. We selected aflatoxins as an example for research, as they are a group of highly toxic and carcinogenic compounds representing a worldwide threat to human health and life. With a non-competitive immunoassay, we detected and evaluated the effect of 28 different linear materials on antibody immobilization. Mercerized cotton and Dyneema line were chosen from the linear materials for further comparison using a competitive immunoassay, because both showed high-signal values and relatively low background noise. The results showed the sensitive IC50 of mercerized cotton as the reaction carrier was 0.33 ng/mL, and the linear range was 0.16~3.25 ng/mL. The sensitivity using Dyneema line as the reaction carrier was 1.16 ng/mL. The competitive curves of four sample matrices were established to evaluate the stability of the detection system; these were basically consistent with those without sample matrices. In conclusion, both mercerized cotton and Dyneema, will be suggested for the novel development of linear immobilization carrier-based immunoassays for other analytes, and especially to construct inexpensive and easy-to-obtain biological and environmental analytical technologies and biosensors.
Keywords: ELISA; aflatoxin; biosensor; immunoassay; linear immobilization carrier.