A quadruplex immunochromatographic assay for the ultrasensitive detection of 11 anesthetics

Anesthetic residues in fish represent a potential risk to human health. Therefore, it is important to develop a sensitive and broad-specific method for the detection of anesthetics. In this study, we developed a colloidal gold-based quadruplex immunochromatographic (Qua-ICS) assay using four highly sensitive monoclonal antibody immunotherapy (mAbs) that simultaneously detected 11 anesthetic residues in fish within 10 min. The colorimetric and cut-off values (COVs) for procaines, eugenols, bupivacaines, and tricaine (TMS) were 0.37–1.1 and 3.3–10, 11–222 and 100–2000, 0.37 and 3.3, and 111 and 10,000 µg/kg, respectively. Quantitative analysis was achieved with a portable strip-reader, and the detection ranges were 0.15–2.6, 6.3–677, 0.13–2.8, and 83–1245 µg/kg for procaines, eugenols, bupivacaines, and tricaine, respectively. Our developed method was reliable and accurate according to the recovery test results and analyses of real samples. Therefore, the strip can be used as an alternative method for the rapid detection of anesthetic residues in fish.