Rapid identification of triptolide in Tripterygium wilfordii products by gold immunochromatographic assay.

Triptolide colloidal gold immunoassay strip was prepared by using colloidal gold labeled monoclonal antibody purified with saturated ammonium sulfate, triptolide succinate-bovine serum albumin and sheep anti-mouse IgG for the first time in our lab. Under optimized conditions, the detection limit of TP strip prepared in this study were determined to be 1 μg/mL and the total analysis time (including sample preparation) was less than 50 min. Sixty-six batches of Tripterygium wilfordii (T. wilfordii) and its adulterations were analyzed. It was found that 28 batches of T. wilfordii were positive as detected by the strips and 38 batches were negative. The result of test strip detection was in consistent with that from the UFLC-ESI-MS/MS method. Gold immunochromatography assay was demonstrated as a rapid, cost-effective, reliable technique for on-site screening of T. wilfordii and its preparations. The prepared colloidal gold immunoassay strip can be conveniently used for rapid identification of triptolide containing products.