Antibody based methods for environmental and food analysis: a review

Antibodies have widely been used as analytical tools in various assays and techniques developed for clinical chemistry and endocrinology and for food and environmental research and risk control. Antibody development in the Veterinary Research Institute, Brno, and their application in ELISA and related techniques such as immunosensors has been directed especially to phenoxyacetic acid herbicides, s-triazine herbicides, sulfonylurea herbicides, polychlorinated biphenyls, surfactants (linear alkylbenzene sulphonates) and toxic metabolites (nonylphenol), and selected veterinary drugs (namely nitrofurans and sulfonamides). This paper provides an overview of progress achieved in the production of key immunoreagents in this laboratory (and in some cooperating laboratories) during the last 15 years. A comprehensive analysis of papers published on immunoassays and biosensors used in food and environmental research since 1980 demonstrates a rapid increase of publications on “ELISA and immunoassays” since 1991 (more than 500 papers were published each year since 1996). More than 200 papers on “biosensors” have been published each year since 2001. Atrazine was the most frequently found key word with ELISA and immunoassays: 438 papers were written by 971 authors from 308 institutions. The Web of Science® database is a useful tool for an assessment of the researcher’s and institution’s interest in the specific topics of research.