A voltammetric immunosensor based on a nanoporous alumina millirod for detection of porcine serum albumin

A voltammetric immunosensor was developed for detection of porcine serum albumin (PSA) to identify raw meat products adulterated with pork. A novel strategy to fabricate multiple individual nanoporous alumina (NPA) millirods (length, 5.0 mm; diameter, 1.0 mm) as the biorecognition platform is described. Each NPA millirod was covalently bioconjugated with anti-PSA capturing antibodies (alpha-PSAC). Following immunocapture, the PSA bound to the alpha-PSAC/NPA millirod bioconjugate were tagged with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) functionalized with anti-PSA detection antibodies as the signaling probe. Subsequently, the AuNPs were voltammetrically analyzed to quantify the target PSA. The immunosensor exhibited 100 % specificity and high sensitivity to PSA with a limit of detection (LoD) of 50 (range, 0-1000) pg/mL (R2 = 0.9907). Real-world applicability was suc-cessfully validated using pork/beef adulterated mixtures with a LoD of 0.05 % (w/w). Overall, the detection performance of the proposed immunosensor was excellent and, thus, is suitable for surveillance of food safety and quality.

Automated summary

A voltammetric immunosensor was developed for detecting porcine serum albumin (PSA) in raw meat products adulterated with pork. The study utilized nanoporous alumina (NPA) millirods as the biorecognition platform, which were covalently bioconjugated with anti-PSA antibodies. The PSA was then tagged with gold nanoparticles as the signaling probe and quantified using voltammetric analysis. The immunosensor showed high specificity and sensitivity, with a limit of detection of 50 pg/mL. Real-world applicability was successfully validated using pork/beef adulterated mixtures with a limit of detection of 0.05% (w/w).