Chemiluminescence ELISA for the Detection of Oxidative DNA Base Damage Using Anti-8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine Antibody: Application to the Detection of Irradiated Foods

Since ionizing radiation is used for sterilizing or lowering the microbial content of foods as a means of reducing food losses and securing food safety, the development of versatile detection methods of irradiated foods is necessary for appropriate management. In an effort to distinguish between irradiated and non-irradiated food, a method based on the detection of oxidative DNA base damage using the chemiluminescence enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) with anti-8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine antibody was developed. In the course of optimizing the reaction conditions for the ELISA, a 30-mer synthetic oligonucleotide containing 8-hydroxyguanine (8-oxoG) was used. Under the optimized conditions, the correlation between chemiluminescence intensity and 8-oxoG content in oligonucleotides was obtained. It was shown that this chemiluminescence ELISA method could be applied to chicken, beef and pork that were irradiated with over 3 kGy. Twenty milligrams of a loaf of meat was sufficient to distinguish between irradiated and non-irradiated meat by this method.