Research and Development of Biomonitoring Technology for Environmental Health Chemicals

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Expansion of contamination of the environment and agricultural products with environmental health chemicals including dioxins, endocrine disruptors and pesticide residues is a serious global problem. These chemicals were found in the environment and agricultural products at ultra-low concentrations (ppt, ppb and ppb levels), and suspected of affecting ecosystems and human health. Therefore, it is important to develop novel technologies to monitor contamination by ultra-low concentrations of environmental health chemicals, since most conventional technologies are high cost, labor intensive and taking time to obtain results, and do not work effectively to monitor contamination of ultra-low chemicals. Therefore, development of novel technologies based on biological functions appears to be requested, because of the low risk potential for secondary contamination with chemicals. We prepared monoclonal antibodies specific to the endocrine disrupters bisphenol A, nonylphenol and estrogen, the insecticide malathion, and the herbicide cymethrin and then developed enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) based on the monoclonal antibodies. The ELISA methods developed were highly sensitive, convenient and low-cost as compared with the conventional analytical methods. We also developed recombinant scFv antibodies based on the monoclonal antibodies by genetic engineering and prepared affinity columms for clear-up of the extracts of samples of soil and agricultural products. In addition, a synchronous enzyme reaction system was developed for a highly sensitive ELISA. It was considered that standardization of these novel ELISA methods is important for practical use.