PRODUCTION AND CARACTERIZATION OF MONOCLONAL ANTIBODIES FOR THE DETECTION OF SALMONELLA ENTERICA IN CHICKEN MEAT

A panel of 13 monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) that react against outer membrane proteins of Salmonella Enteritidis was obtained. Two MAbs were classified as IgM, six were IgG2a, three were IgG3 and one was of the IgG2b isotype. The reactivity of the MAbs against different serovars of Salmonella enterica and other bacteria was investigated using an indirect ELISA. Five MAbs reacted only against Salmonella Enteritidis. Two MAbs presented crossed reactions with thermo-extracted antigens of Klebsiella pneumoniae, Citrobacter freundii and Enterobacter aerogenes. MAb 424H presented wide spectrum of reactivity, detecting antigens of Salmonella belonging to serogroups B, C, D, E and G. The detection limit of different serovars of Salmonella in a indirect ELISA with MAb 424H varied from 1.0 x 104 CFU/mL for Salmonella London to 1.4 x 106 CFU/mL for Salmonella Gallinarum and Salmonella Typhimurium. Evaluation of the performance of the ELISA with MAb 424H in the detection of Salmonella in samples of chicken meat artificially contaminated revealed that the ELISA was able to detect all serovars after sample enrichment using two levels of contamination. Samples of chicken meat not artificially contaminated analysed in parallel were negative for Salmonella in both the conventional and the ELISA methods. Key words: Salmonella, monoclonal antibodies, membrane proteins, food