Comparison of the labeled avidin-biotin and the conventional enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for detecting antibody to reovirus in chickens.

A labeled avidin-biotin enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (LAB-ELISA) for detecting antibodies to avian reovirus (ARV) in chicken sera was developed and compared with conventional ELISA. Purified ARV, biotin-labeled rabbit anti-chicken IgG conjugate, and horseradish peroxidase-labeled avidin were used in the LAB-ELISA. The two types of ELISA had the similar ability to clearly distinguish ARV-positive and -negative sera. Furthermore, non-specific reactions with the two ELISAs against sera from ARV-negative chickens were reduced markedly. When sera from farm chickens were tested by the two ELISAs and serum neutralization (SN), the correlation rates between SN and conventional ELISA, and SN and LAB-ELISA were similar and were 93.4% and 92.3%, respectively.