Conjugation of tetracycline with carrier proteins and production of its polyclonal antibody for the development of rapid test

Tetracycline (TC) is a broad-spectrum antibiotic used in the treatment of several infectious diseases. The excessive use of tetracycline antibiotics, especially tetracyclines in livestock, has raised concerns about residues of tetracycline antibiotics in food that may affect consumers' health. It is necessary to develop a rapid test strip for detecting tetracycline antibiotic residues in food and animal feed. This paper presents the suitable conditions for the conjugation of tetracycline to BSA or KLH: molar ratio of TC:BSA/KLH was 25:1, formaldehyde concentration of 5 %, temperature of 4oC and reaction time of 4 hours. The KLH-TC conjugate was used to successfully raise polyclonal antibodies against TC in rabbits. The anti-TC polyclonal antibodies were purified and could be used for the development of the lateral flow immunoassay test strip for the detection of tetracycline.