Description

Diagnostic Automation/Cortez Diagnostics, Inc. offers an Aflatoxin B1 Food ELISA Kit that is an Enzyme Immunoassay for the Quantitative Determination of Aflatoxin B1 in Food.  This Aflatoxin B1 Food ELISA Kit is a quick, economical, and sensitive Food Toxin ELISA Kit which is designed to detect Aflatoxin B1 in food.  The Aflatoxin B1 Food ELISA Kit represents a highly sensitive Food ELISA Test Kit detection system and is particularly capable of the quantification of aflatoxin B1 in food products.

 

The Aflatoxin B1 Food ELISA Kit is a quantitative test based on the principle of the enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. An aflatoxin conjugate is bound on the surface of a microtiter plate on the Aflatoxin B1 ELISA Kit.  Aflatoxin B1 containing samples or standards and an antibody directed against aflatoxin B1 are given into the wells of the microtiter plate on the Aflatoxin B1 ELISA Kit.  Immobilized and free aflatoxin B1 compete for the antibody binding sites.  After one hour incubation at room temperature, the wells of the Aflatoxin B1 ELISA Kit are washed with diluted washing solution to remove unbound material.  A peroxidase conjugate against the antibody is given into the wells of the Aflatoxin B1 ELISA test and after another hour incubation, the plate on the Aflatoxin B1 ELISA test is washed again. Then a substrate solution is added to the Aflatoxin B1 ELISA test and incubated for 20 minutes, resulting in the development of a blue color. The color development on the Aflatoxin B1 ELISA test is inhibited by the addition of a stop solution, and the color turns yellow. The yellow color on the Aflatoxin B1 ELISA test is measured photometrically at 450 nm. The concentration of aflatoxin B1 is indirectly proportional to the color intensity of the Aflatoxin B1 ELISA test sample.

Aflatoxins belong to the class of mycotoxins. Chemically they are defined as difuranocyclopentanocumarines or difuranopentanolidocumarines, i.e. aflatoxins contain a dihydrofuran or a tetrahydrofuran ring, to which a substituted cumarin system is condensed. Out of about 20 known aflatoxins, the moulds Aspergillus flavus and A. parasiticus produce exclusively aflatoxin B1, B2, G1 and G2, and all the other aflatoxins are derivates of these four. The derivates are developed either by metabolism in humans, animals and microorganisms or by environmental reactions.

 

Aflatoxins belong to the strongest mycotoxins, which act primarily in a hepatotoxic and carcinogenic way. The four main aflatoxins show a different toxicity. B1 is without doubt the most toxic aflatoxin, followed by G1, B2 and G2.  Aflatoxin B1, however, does not show a direct toxic action. In the process of biotransformation in the liver, the lipophilic toxin is epoxidated and transformed into an active derivative, the so-called aflatoxin B1-2, 3-epoxid. This highly reactive epoxid is able to react with nucleophilic regions of macromolecules. Amongst other this metabolite of aflatoxin B1 binds covalently to the N-7 atom of the guanine bases of DNA. This covalent bond causes an inhibition of the DNA replication, the RNA synthesis and mutations.

 

Both chronical and acute intoxications are effected by aflatoxins. There are only few documented reports about acute intoxications, which are caused by uptake of mycotoxins. Of special importance for human beings are the chronical intoxications by aflatoxins. To the diseases, which develop after such chronical intoxications, belong primary liver carcinoma, hepatitis, Reye´s syndrome and Kwashiorkor. Besides the generation of primary liver carcinoma, aflatoxins are presumably also responsible for other sorts of tumors, like intestinal cancer.  Contaminations with aflatoxins occur mostly with nuts and grain. In most cases aflatoxins penetrate the human body via the food. Aflatoxins are stable to heat and are only partly destroyed by boiling. In order to protect people against aflatoxin-induced diseases, there is a need for the quantitative and qualitative control of endangered foodstuff, besides appropriate hygienic precautions, which avoid the formation of aflatoxin.   After an appropriate sample preparation on the Aflatoxin B1 Food ELISA Test Kit, 40 samples can be tested in duplicate within 140 minutes.

 

Diagnostic Automation/Cortez Diagnostics, Inc. offers several popular Food ELISA Test Kits:   Chloramphenicol ELISA Kit, Fumonisin ELISA Kit, Streptomycin ELISA Kit, Aflatoxin M1 ELISA Kit, Penicillin ELISA Kit, Histamine ELISA Kit, and Verotoxin Antigen in Food ELISA Test Kit.  For more information on any of these Food ELISA Test Kits, please contact our Customer Service Department.