Comparison of two newly developed forms of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the detection of staphylococcal toxic shock syndrome toxin-1 (TSST-1).

Two modifications of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were applied to the quantitative determination of TSST-1 in culture supernatants of S. aureus strains. In both techniques, biotinylated antibodies (anti-TSST-1), obtained by means of either glutaraldehyde or N,N-dimethyl formamide were used. IgG and biotin were conjugated in various ratios and the different conjugates thus obtained were examined for their reactivity in the ELISA tests. The application of the glutaraldehyde-method resulted in more active, sensitive and stable conjugates. Furthermore, acceptable TSST-1 standard curves under fixed conditions were only obtained when the appropriate ratio of biotin to IgG had been determined before the biotinylated antibodies were employed.