Production and Analytical Properties of Antibodies with High Specificity to Zearalenone

The time course of production, specificity, and analytical potential of antizearalenone polyclonal rabbit antibody synthesized by formaldehyde condensation and conjugated to bovine serum albumin were investigated. The relative cross-reactivities with natural analogues were: zearalenone, 100%; -zearalenole, 0.15%; and -zearalenole, <0.02%. With synthetic analogues: zearalanone, 31.7% and -zearalanone, 0.12%. An enzyme immunoassay for zearalenone with a sensitivity of 0.1 ng/ml was developed on the basis of these antibodies and solid-phase conjugates homologous to the immunogen in the method of synthesis.