Immunological method for the identification of animal hair fibers

A new approach to the objective identification of the different animal hair fibres based on the application of monoclonal antibodies has been discussed. Three different extraction methods including metabisulphite/urea, dithiothreitol/urea, thiourea/urea/dithiothreitol were compared to evaluate efficiency and repeatability in extracting keratin from wool and cashmere fibres. 'Anti-cashmere' monoclonal antibodies were produced by immunization of mice with Type II intermediate filament proteins extracted from cashmere, purified by 2D preparative electrophoresis. Two monoclonal antibodies (named P21 and I6) were tested with both wool and cashmere blends for both qualitative and quantitative analysis. The interaction of P21 and I6 antibodies was studied by the immunoblot method. After a calibration carried out on both the antibodies, the method was applied to unknown wool/cashmere blends and compared with the results of the analysis carried out by the SEM (scanning electron microscopy) method IWTO 58-00 in order to preliminarily assess the method.