An Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) for Methylphenidate (Ritalin®) in Urine

A direct enyzme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for urinary immunoreactive methylphenidate (Ritalin), in which a standard 96-well microtiter plate is used, is described. For this ELISA, a methylphenidate-thyroglobulin conjugate is immobilized to the microtiter plate and competes with methylphenidate in the standard or urine sample for antibody-binding sites. After washing, the sheep methylphenidate antibody bound to immobilized methylphenidate is detected with peroxidase-labelled goat antisheep IgG. Following a further wash, tetramethylbenzidine is added, color is developed, and the plate is read at 450 nm on an ELISA plate reader. This method is unaffected by drugs of abuse and is suitable for routine use in the toxicology laboratory.