Management of factors for improving antigen–antibody interaction in lateral flow immunoassay of tetracycline in human serum samples

Abstract

Detection of antibiotics in the blood is necessary for characterizing their common or individual pharmacokinetics. This has increased the need in rapid detection techniques, such as lateral flow immunoassay, for the on-site control of antibiotics. The present study characterized factors influencing the analytical parameters of lateral flow immunoassay to increase its sensitivity for detecting tetracycline in human serum samples. Assay sensitivity was increased by altering the concentrations of immunoreagents and surfactant and the number of interaction stages in the assay with indirect labeling a specific antibody. The optimal assay conditions reduced the limit of visual detection of tetracycline from 100 to 10 ng/mL. The developed assay allowed us to detect tetracycline in both two-fold diluted and undiluted human serum samples within 15 min. Our results suggest that the developed assay can be used to screen patients under antibiotic treatment.