Urchin-like gold nanoparticle-based immunochromatographic strip test for rapid detection of fumonisin B1 in grains.

An immunochromatographic strip (ICS) using urchin-like gold nanoparticles (UGNs) for sensitive detection of fumonisin B1 (FB1) was developed to meet the requirement for rapidly monitoring FB1 in grain samples. The sensitivity of the ICS was 5.0 ng/mL, which represents a fourfold increase in sensitivity over conventional strip preparation using colloidal gold as the antibody-labeled probe. Analysis of FB1 in grain samples showed that data obtained from the strip tests were in a good agreement with those obtained from HPLC and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs). This qualitative test did not require any specialized equipment, and the detection time was less than 5 min, which is suitable for on-site testing of FB1 in grain samples. Overall, to our knowledge, this is the first report of using a UGN as the antibody-labeled probe for sensitive detection of FB1 in grains using an ICS.