RESUMO
A novel polyclonal antibody against tetrodotoxin (TTX) was raised using its haptenic antigen, where 4,9-anhydroTTX was reacted with 1,2-ethanedithiol and this derivative was further reacted with keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH). This newly designed antigen (KLH-TTX) was inoculated into rabbits, resulting in the production of the specific polyclonal antibody, which reacted well with TTX and its analogs, 4-epiTTX, 11-oxoTTX and 5,6,11-trideoxyTTX, except for 4,9-anhydroTTX. The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) system using this specific antibody was also developed in the present study. This newly developed polyclonal antibody with analytical procedures using direct one-step ELISA is useful to detect TTX and its analogs in toxic organisms and also disclose the mechanisms involved in their metabolic pathways and accumulation of TTX.