IV.4.1 - Biomonitors based on immunological principles

Immunological techniques are recognized as rapid, sensitive, and inexpensive methods in environmental analytical chemistry. By screening out negative samples (no target analyte present or only detectable at levels below a set threshold limit), they can constitute a valuable tool to decrease the demand for chemical analyses by more time-consuming and highly sophisticated instrumentation. Currently, corresponding tests are available mainly in the microtiter plate and tube format. A limitation of an immunoassay as compared to common chromatographic techniques often specified by environmental analysts consists in its single-compound analysis. Because antibodies target epitopes, not the whole antigen, multiple substances may have same or similar epitopes. When this is the case, the crossreactivity of antibodies can be used for a multiresidue analysis of structurally related compounds that might be a class of pesticides, such as triazines including a number of metabolites. Increasing activities in the validation and standardization of immunochemical tests, as were initiated by federal government and regulatory agencies of several countries and well-recognized national and international organizations, will lead to more transparency and uniformity in method development and evaluation, and therefore will aid the assays in getting rid of their smack as “dubious biological tests.”