Derivatization-assisted enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for identifying hallucinogenic mushrooms with enhanced sensitivity.
Analytical methods : advancing methods and applications September 16, 2021 Izumi Morita, Yuki Kiguchi, Hiroyuki Oyama et al. 3 citations
A new test detects psilocin, the main psychoactive compound in hallucinogenic mushrooms, with much higher sensitivity than before. The method first converts psilocin into a heavier chemical form (TBS/Psi), then uses an antibody that binds strongly to this modified compound. The antibody showed 69-fold higher affinity than an earlier version, and the test's detection midpoint was over 100-fold lower than the previous assay, reaching the desired low-picomole sensitivity. When applied to dried Psilocybe cubensis mushroom powder, the test gave positive signals indicating expected psilocin levels, while four edible mushroom species produced no detectable response.