%0 Journal Article %T In vitro assay of biological and chemical toxins using antibodies against lethal toxin neutralizing factor %A LIPPS %A B. V. %J Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins %D 2002 %I Scientific Electronic Library Online %R 10.1590/S0104-79302002000200003 %X lethal toxin neutralizing factor (n-ltnf), mw 63.0 kda, was isolated from opossum serum. after trypsin digestion, the active domain of n-ltnf was isolated and sequenced. the synthetic peptide consisting of ten amino acids was designated as lt-10. n-ltnf and lt-10 inhibited the lethality of animal, plant and bacteria toxins when tested on mice non-immunologically. the antibodies against n-ltnf and lt-10 only reacted immunologically with toxins and not with non-toxic substances. anti-ltnf and anti-lt-10 reacted immunologically by elisa test with toxins that were not detected by mouse test, such as cholera toxin and digoxin. anti-ltnf and anti-lt-10 failed to react immunologically with non-toxic substances, such as nerve growth factor and collagen. currently, mouse bioassay is in use for toxin detection and assay. binding affinity of igg from anti-lt-10 showed a linear relationship with mouse bioassay by elisa detection limit to some toxins only. this may be due to the fact that anti-ltnf and anti-lt-10 detected the toxins that were not lethal to mouse. thus, anti-ltnf and anti-lt-10 can be useful in assaying toxins as an alternative to mouse bioassay. %K antibodies %K in vitro assay %K lethal toxin neutralizing factor %K toxins %K venoms. %U http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_abstract&pid=S0104-79302002000200003&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en