Strategies of ELISA development for pesticide detection

This review examines some of the most common problems generally faced during the development of immunoenzymatic assays. In particular, the criteria of hapten design either for the preparation of the immunogen or the immunoenzymatic assay reagent are discussed. Examples are given from work carried out for the detection of triazole fungicides, specifically, tetraconazole, hexaconazole, penconazole and propiconazole. It is concluded that ELISA performance with polyclonal antibody is mainly affected by 2 factors: the use of a coating conjugate characterized by a handle different in length and nature from that present in the immunizing conjugate, and by a low hapten/protein molar ratio.