This sensitive and convenient assay, developed by a team of researchers in Germany, Switzerland, New Zealand, and the United States and commercialized by Abraxis LLC (Warminster, Pennsylvania), is unique among commercially available immunoassays for microcystins in that by design it responds to a broad range of the toxic microcystin congeners, as well as the structurally related nodularin toxins.  The ELISA is derived from antibodies recognizing 6E-ADDA,the common structural feature present in the toxic congeners of microcystins and nodularins, and can reduce the total cost of cyanobacterial cyclic peptide toxin analysis and the workload associated with safety testing. It can also minimize the risk of water containing novel but toxic microcystin or nodularin analogues being declared “toxin-free”.

Please write to info@eamonitor.com for additional details on this test kit, including an informational flier, the kit product insert including test procedures, and a journal publication describing the method development.  The detection limit is 0.1 ug/L (ppb) and the upper quantitation limit is 5 ug/L, which is easily extended by sample dilution.  Cross-reactivity data is included for the MC-LR, MC-RR, MC-YR, MC-LF, MC-LW, dmMC-LR, and dmMC-RR congeners, as well as nodularin.

The immunoassay is supplied in a convenient 96-well microtiter plate format at a price of US$400.00 per kit.  The 96-well plates may be separated into individual strips to run smaller sample batches using a strip reader.  The e-catalog lists several readers which we sell if you do not currently have one.