Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the determination of 20(S)-protopanaxatriol Original Research Article

A highly sensitive and specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method has been developed for the determination of 20(S)-protopanaxatriol (PPT), one of the major aglycones of dammarane-type ginseng saponins. Polyclonal antibodies raised against ginsenoside F1 (GF1)-bovine serum albumin showed high reactivities to PPT and GF1, whereas they exhibited minor or even no cross-reactivities to other ginsenosides and protopanaxadiol (0.19%). The working range of this method extends from 50 pg ml−1 to 20 ng ml−1 of PPT. The assay reported here has been validated against an HPLC technique using PPT-containing samples and was shown to correlate closely (γ=0.993). This ELISA could be a useful tool for the determination of PPT contained in biological fluids and plant materials.