Method and kit for detecting, or determining the quantity of, beta-lactam penicillins

Abstract

The invention provides a hapten comprising a 6-[D-α-aminoacetamido]penicillin derivative crosslinked at the α-amino group with a substituted or unsubstituted phenyldicarbaldehyde. In addition, the invention provides an immunogen comprising the aforementioned hapten coupled to an antigenicity-conferring carrier material, a conjugate comprising the aforementioned hapten coupled to a labelling agent, as well as, antibodies raised against the aforementioned immunogen and capable of binding with at least one structural epitope of an intact β-lactam ring. The invention further provides a method and a kit for detecting, or determining the quantity of, β-lactam antibiotics, as well as, use of the aforementioned conjugate with the aforementioned antibodies for detecting, or determining the quantity of, β-lactam antibiotics. The present invention has broad specificity across the main first generation β-lactams and can be used to test milk and meat and the like for the presence of residual β-lactam antibiotics.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.