Development of an immunochromatographic test strip for the rapid detection of aristolochic acid A in herbal medicinal materials.

INTRODUCTION

Plants containing aristolochic acid and its derivatives are nephrotoxic, mutagenic, and carcinogenic to humans; chronic diet poisoning caused by the aristolochic acid is the cause of endemic (Balkan) nephropathy and related cancers.

OBJECTIVE

To develop a colloidal gold immunochromatographic test strip (ICS) based on the competitive format for the rapid detection of aristolochic acid A (AA-A) in herbal medicinal materials.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

For the ICS based on gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), the antigen [AA-A-bovine serum albumin (BSA)], and goat anti-mouse IgG were drawn on the nitrocellulose membrane as the test line (T line) and the control line (C line), respectively. Monoclonal antibody (MAb)-AuNP conjugates were sprayed onto the conjugate pad. The sensitivity of the ICS was 6 ng/mL, and the test was completed in 10 min. The analysis of AA-A in traditional Chinese medicine samples showed that the ICS results were in good agreement with those obtained by high-performance liquid chromatography methods.

CONCLUSION

These results demonstrated that the ICS test could be used as a reliable, rapid, cost-effective, and convenient qualitative tool for on-site screening techniques to detect AA-A in herbal medicinal materials without any special instrumentation.