Comparison of Three Immunoassay Methods for Microcystin-LR

Objective  To compare the performance of enzyme linked immunoassay (ELISA), time-resolved fluoro-immunoassay (TRFIA) and nano-homogeneous time-resolved fluoro-immunoassay (NH-TRFIA) for the detection of microcystin-LR (MC-LR).

Method  The difference of reaction conditions of these three methods were evaluated by the comparison of coated microplates, reaction steps, signal systems and reagent consumption. The performance index of assays were assessed by their sensitivity, precision and accuracy. The reliability of these assays was obtained by effeative sample determination.

Results  For NH-TRFIA method, the operating time was shorter, the reagent consumption was less, the sensitivity was better and the working range was wider than others two assay methods; for TRFIA method, the signal was stronger and the stability of signal was keeping longer. All the methods gave the good precision, since the relative standard devietions were all below 15%. The results of these assays were well correlated with the high performance liquid chromatography and showed good reliability.

Conclusion  TRFIA and NH-TRFIA offered obvious technical advanfages, which might have a bright future in routine monitoring for MC-LR detection.