Study 268: Evaluation and Validation of a Commercial ELISA Kit for Permethrin in Surface Water

I. Introduction ELISA, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, is a biochemical technique used for detecting specific compound(s) in environmental and biological samples. The technique has been successfully applied for analyses of pesticides in soil and water samples by the also evaluated commercial diazinon and chlorpyrifos ELISA kits for their reliability and usefulness for surface water samples collected in environmental monitoring projects and controlled field experiments. Compared to conventional analytical methods such as gas chromatography (GC), high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) and mass spectroscopy, ELISA is considered a more rapid, cost-effective, and less labor-intensive alternative for analysis of pesticides in large numbers of environmental samples (Study 222 Protocol; Sullivan et al. 2000, 2007). However, ELISA is also prone to matrix effects – either due to the presence of cross-reactants or nonspecific interferences (Hammock and Gee, 2002).