A sensitive enzyme immunoassay for amygdalin in food extracts using a recombinant antibody.

Amygdalin (laterile) is a cyanogenic glycoside commonly found in the pits of many fruits and raw nuts. When amygdalin-containing seeds are crushed and moistened, free cyanide is formed. Pits and nuts containing unusually high levels of amygdalin can therefore cause cyanide poisoning, and detection of amygdalin in food extracts can be a life-saving measure. In this study, we generated recombinant antibodies against amygdalin from a phage display of a combinatorial rabbit/human chimeric antibody library and used it in a sensitive competition enzyme immunoassay system to detect amygdalin in extracts of pits and nuts. The detection limit was determined to be 1 x 10(-9) M.