LAUSR

ABSTRACT Tricaine (TMS) is usually used as an anesthetic in the transportation of aquatic animals. However, when consumed, the numerous residual drug residues found in fish can cause a high risk to human health. Therefore, it is important to develop a rapid and sensitive method for the detection of this drug in food. Here we have developed a novel lateral-flow immunochromatographic strip (LF-ICS) method for the detection of TMS in fish samples, using a very effective anti-TMS monoclonal antibody with a half-maximal inhibitory concentration value of 31.79 ng/mL. After the K2CO3 and coating antigen concentrations were optimized in phosphate buffered saline (pH 7.4), the LF-ICS was used to determine TMS levels in fish samples spiked with varying concentrations of the drug. Following this, the values for the visual limit of detection and the cut-off for TMS were found to be less than 0.1 and 1 μg/mL, respectively. These results indicated that our developed LF-ICS is applicable for on-site screening of TMS in fish samples.