A sensitivity-enhanced heterologous immunochromatographic assay based on a monoclonal antibody for the rapid detection of histamine in saury samples

Histamine (HA) is an essential test item for fishery samples. However, the fast and effective determination of HA is difficult due to its simple structure and small molecular size. In this study, a sensitive and specific monoclonal antibody against p-nitrobenzoylated histamine (NPHA), which can be easily obtained from the reaction of HA and p-nitrobenzoic acid N-hydroxysuccinimide ester (PNBA-OSu) under mild conditions, was generated for the first time. Based on this mAb, an immunochromato-graphic assay strip (ICA strip) using a colloidal gold nano particles-antibody (GNPs) probe for rapid detection of HA in saury samples was established. After screening the coating antigens and optimization of analytical parameters, a heterologous coating based ICA strip exhibited the most excellent detection ability with a visual detection limit (VDL) of 6.0 mg kg−1 in qualitative experiments and a detection limit (by a strip reader) of 1.0 mg kg−1 in semi-quantitative experiments for saury samples, with no cross-reactivity with HA analogs. Good correlation between the ICA strip with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry was achieved for spiked and naturally contaminated saury samples. Overall, this method is suitable for screening of HA residue for large scale fish samples in a quick, simple and low-cost manner.