Field-usable lateral flow immunoassay for the rapid detection of a macluravirus, large cardamom chirke virus.

A simple and rapid lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) was developed by utilizing gold nanoparticles conjugated to a polyclonal antibody against coat protein of large cardamom chirke virus (LCCV). The LFIA based on the principle of sandwich immunoassay detected LCCV within ∼10 min and the result could be evaluated visually. The colloidal gold (CG) was made using 1% gold chloride solution. The LCCV IgG (1 µg/µl) and Mouse IgG (0.5 µg/µl) were conjugated with CG individually and coated onto a conjugate pad at 1:1 ratio. A sample extraction procedure was optimized in order to get adequate clear leaf sap of large cardamom leaf within few minutes. The sensitivity limit of the detection was 1:40 dilution of LCCV infected leaf sap. The diagnostic performance of LFIA was compared with ELISA using field samples. The LFIA was free from false positive as no visible test line was developed with healthy and potyviruses such as papaya ringspot virus and potato virus Y. The diagnostic specificity and sensitivity of LFIA was 100% and 90%, respectively. The Cohen's kappa coefficient (0.701) suggested a very good agreement between the ELISA and LFIA. Receiver operating characteristic analysis indicated that LFIA was a robust method as the area under the curve (0.950) is significantly (P <0.0001) broader.

Role of Adhatoda vasica (L.) Nees leaf extract in the prevention of aflatoxin-induced toxicity in Wistar rats.

BACKGROUND: Aflatoxin contamination of various foodstuffs and agricultural commodities is a major problem worldwide. Several strategies have been reported for the detoxification of aflatoxins in contaminated foods and feeds, but all these methods have their own shortcomings. Traditional medicinal plants are potential sources of aflatoxin-detoxifying compounds. In this study a spray-dried formulation of Adhatoda vasica (L.) Nees leaf extract was prepared and its chemopreventive effect on aflatoxin B1 (AFB1)-induced biochemical changes in the liver and serum of Wistar rats was investigated. RESULTS: Administration of AFB1 (1.5 mg kg(-1) body weight (BW) intraperitoneally) to rats significantly reduced the activities of superoxide dismutase and catalase in liver tissues and increased the activities of aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase and alkaline phosphatase and the levels of very-low-density lipoprotein, low-density lipoprotein and cholesterol in blood serum. However, pre-feeding of rats with A. vasica formulation (500 mg kg(-1) BW for 7 days) protected the animals from AFB1-induced biochemical changes during subsequent exposure to AFB1. CONCLUSION: Pre-feeding of rats with A. vasica formulation counteracted the hepatic dysfunction induced by subsequent treatment with AFB1. This formulated A. vasica extract offers a biologically safe alternative to detoxify aflatoxin and has huge potential to be used in the poultry industry to reduce aflatoxicosis.