Citation

Brandon DL. Toxins (Basel) 2011; 3(4): 398-408.

Affiliation

Foodborne Contaminants Research Unit, Western Regional Research Center, USDA Agricultural Research Service, 800 Buchanan Street, Albany, CA 94710, USA; Email: david.brandon@ars.usda.gov ; Tel.: +1-510-559-5783;

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, MDPI: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute)

DOI

10.3390/toxins3040398

PMID

22069715

PMCID

PMC3202826

Abstract

Ricin is a highly toxic protein present in the seeds of Ricinus communis (castor), grown principally as a source of high quality industrial lubricant and as an ornamental. Because ricin has been used for intentional poisoning in the past and could be used to contaminate food, there is a need for analytical methodology to detect ricin in food matrices. A monoclonal antibody-based method was developed for detecting and quantifying ricin in ground beef, a complex, fatty matrix. The limit of detection was 0.5 ng/g for the electrochemiluminescence (ECL) method and 1.5 ng/g for enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The detection of nanogram per gram quantities of ricin spiked into retail samples of ground beef provides approximately 10,000-fold greater sensitivity than required to detect a toxic dose of ricin (>1 mg) in a 100 g sample.

Language: en