Colloidal gold immunochromatographic assay for the detection of total aflatoxins in cereals

Aflatoxins (AFTs) are highly carcinogenic and mainly contaminate cereals. In this study, we designed and screened a hapten by analyzing the same characteristic groups of AFTs (AFB 1 , AFB 2 , AFG 1 and AFG 2 ), prepared a monoclonal antibody (mAb) 4C11 with a high sensitivity and specificity that can simultaneously detect all the main AFTs, and established a colloidal gold immunochromatographic assay (CG-ICA) for the detection of AFTs in cereals. The limits of detection (LODs) were 0.77 μg/kg, 1.40 μg/kg and 0.71 μg/kg for wheat, rice and maize, respectively, with linear ranges of 1.17–5.52 μg/kg, 1.84–5.20 μg/kg and 1.26–8.95 μg/kg, respectively. The spiked recoveries of AFTs samples ranged from 95.6 % to 104.2 %, and the positive samples further validated the reliability of the method. The results demonstrated that the method can be used for rapid, sensitive and efficient on-site detection of AFTs in cereals.