Development of Antibodies for the Detection of 2-Methylisoborneol (MIB) by Immunoassay

The aquaculture industry considers off-flavor in catfish to be one of the biggest problems facing the industry and representing a significant cost to catfish farmers and processors due to the unmarketability of the fish that have acquired these distasteful compounds. To avoid marketing fish with off-flavor, fish are screened for flavor quality before harvesting. Current quantitative chemical analysis is inadequate for flavor quality control because of time constraints and the high cost involved. Another technique utilizing human flavor testers is sensory analysis, although rapid and relative inexpensive, human assessment is prone to errors due to sickness, fatigue and variability among testers. In this work we propose to develop and produce monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies which react with 2-methylisoborneol (MIB) with sufficient selectivity, affinity, and avidity to be utilized in a low cost and rapid commercial immunoassay system, which ultimately benefit farmers, processors and consumers by ensuring a high quality product. Production of these antibodies is described including the immunogens, injection schedule, screening process, hybridoma development, polyclonal and monoclonal selection criteria.