Development of a sensitive monoclonal antibody-based indirect competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for analysing nobiletin in citrus and herb samples

•Hapten of nobiletin has been successfully prepared.•This is the first paper on mAb-based icELISA for nobiletin in citrus.•The developed ic-ELISA offers an advantage for detecting nobiletin in herb samples. Nobiletin, a polymethoxyflavone mainly found in citrus fruits, have been reported to exhibit various beneficial biological activities for human health. It is an important bioactive compound in traditional Chinese medicine, Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae and Fructus Aurantii. To detect the contents of nobiletin in citrus and herb samples, we developed an indirect competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (icELISA) based on monoclonal antibodies. It possessed a median inhibition concentration (IC50) of 2.43 ± 0.19 ng/mL and a working range of 0.52–12.3 ng/mL. The assay exhibited the average recoveries of 72.5–85.3% in citrus peel, pulp and juice samples. Moreover, eleven citrus cultivars samples and four herb samples were also detected by the icELISA. The nobiletin content varied in different citrus cultivars samples and herb samples, which were confirmed by the ultra-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS). These results indicated that the developed immunoassay was suitable for detecting nobiletin in citrus and herb samples.