Advances in assays and analytical approaches for botulinum-toxin detection

Current Methods for Detecting the Presence of Botulinum Neurotoxins in Food and Other Biological Samples

“…Despite many attempts and much research to replace the use of animals, it is still the best assay to model all aspects of BoNT intoxication: binding, translocation and enzymatic activity (Grate et al, 2010). In attempts to replace the mouse bioassay and improve assay time and sensitivity, both in vitro and in vivo systems have been developed for the detection of BoNTs.…”

“…Although they may be sensitive and faster than the use of whole animals, these assays require use of sophisticated equipment and training, and are not amenable for use with large samplings of complex matrices (Grate et al, 2010). A recently developed in vivo assay using the toe-spread reflex model was tested for the detection of BoNT in buffer, serum and milk samples (Wilder-Kofie et al, 2011).…”

“…A multitude of assay formats have been developed over many years, with in some cases, reported sensitivities at the attomolar level (Grate et al, 2010). Many assays were designed for use in the validation of toxin production, for commercial purposes, or for high-throughput screening methods to identify therapeutics that inhibit toxin function.…”

“…This chapter will briefly describe the properties of BoNTs as they relate to detection methods and will compare and contrast currentlyused methods for food and biological sample analyses and methods in development. For detailed analyses and descriptions of detection assays please also refer to excellent reviews by (Grate et al, 2010;Lindström and Korkeala, 2006;Scarlatos et al, 2005;. We apologize to others not named here due to space constraints.…”

Rapid Tests for Detection of Main Clostridial Toxins

“…Previously, a few articles reviewed widely assays for BoNT detection, quantification in different matrices (foods, biological samples) until 2015 [57,70,[85][86][87][88][89]. In this chapter, we will focus on to the most latest methods developed for BoNT, including works from 2016.…”