Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, NCEH/DLS, 4770 Buford Highway, NE Atlanta, Georgia 30341-3724, USA.
Anal Chem. 2009 Mar 15;81(6):2037-42. doi: 10.1021/ac802769s.
Ricin is a potent toxin capable of inhibiting protein synthesis and causing death or respiratory failure. Because of its high availability and lethality, ricin is considered a likely agent for bioterrorism. Rapidly determining contamination of food product with ricin and human exposure to ricin is therefore an important public health goal. In this work, we report the development of a method that detects ricin and its activity in food or clinical samples. This method involves immunocapture of the toxin, an examination of the activity of the ricin protein upon a DNA substrate that mimics the toxin's natural RNA target, and analysis of tryptic fragments of the toxin itself. It is the combination of these three techniques, all performed on the same sample, which allows for a sensitive and selective analysis of ricin isolated from a food or clinical sample. This measurement includes a measure of the toxin's activity. The utility of this method was demonstrated on ricin spiked into food and clinical samples consisting of milk, apple juice, serum, and saliva.
蓖麻毒素是一种强效毒素，能够抑制蛋白质合成并导致死亡或呼吸衰竭。由于其高可用性和致命性，蓖麻毒素被认为是生物恐怖主义的一种可能制剂。因此，快速确定食品中是否存在蓖麻毒素以及人体是否接触过蓖麻毒素是一个重要的公共卫生目标。在这项工作中，我们报告了一种检测食品或临床样本中蓖麻毒素及其活性的方法的开发。该方法涉及毒素的免疫捕获，在模拟毒素天然 RNA 靶标的 DNA 底物上检测毒素蛋白的活性，以及分析毒素自身的胰蛋白酶片段。正是这三种技术的结合，在同一个样本上进行，使得能够对从食品或临床样本中分离出的蓖麻毒素进行敏感和选择性分析。这种测量包括对毒素活性的测量。该方法在含有牛奶、苹果汁、血清和唾液的食品和临床样本中加入蓖麻毒素的应用中得到了验证。
