Analytical Methods
A rapid immunomagnetic beads-based immunoassay for the detection
of b-casein in bovine milk
F. Song
a
, Y. Zhou
a,
⇑
, Y.S. Li
a
, X.M. Meng
b
, X.Y. Meng
a
, J.Q. Liu
c
, S.Y. Lu
a
, H.L. Ren
a
,P.Hu
a
, Z.S. Liu
a
,
Y.Y. Zhang
a
, J.H. Zhang
a
a
Key Laboratory of Zoonosis, Ministry of Education, Institute of Zoonosis/College of Veterinary Medicine, Jilin University, Changchun 130062, PR China
b
Grain and Oil Food Processing Key Laboratory of Jilin Province, Jilin Business and Technology College, Changchun 130062, PR China
c
Production Quality Test Institute of Jilin Province, Changchun 130022, PR China
article info
Article history:
Received 19 October 2012
Received in revised form 22 September 2013
Accepted 26 February 2014
Available online 12 March 2014
Keywords:
Immunomagnetic beads
Sandwich structure
b-Casein
Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay
Detection
abstract
An immunomagnetic beads-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (IMBs-ELISA) was developed for
the detection of b-casein in bovine milk. Immunomagnetic beads (IMBs) were employed as the solid
phase. The anti-b-casein monoclonal antibody (McAb) bound to IMBs was used as capture probe and
an anti-b-casein polyclonal antibody (PcAb), labelled with horseradish peroxidase (HRP), was employed
as detector probe. Three reaction and two washing steps were needed. Each reaction needed 10 min or
less, which significantly shortened detection compared with classic sandwich ELISA. b-Casein in bovine
milk w as detected across a linear range (2–128
l
gmL
1
). Application results were in accordance with
the Kjejdahl method, which suggests the IMBs-ELISA is rapid and reliable for the detection of b-casein
in bovine milk.
Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Bovine milk is a dairy product with high nutritional value that is
popular amongst consumer of all ages. It contains protein, fat, car-
bohydrate, minerals, vitamin and water. In recent years, the con-
sumption of dairy products has rapidly increased (Bashir, 2011).
However, milk and milk product have become the target of adulte-
ration (fraudulent incorporation of less costly ingredients), which
is a significant problem for the dairy industry in many countries
in the world and consumers, for example, the pet-food contamina-
tion by melamine adulterant in America in 2007 (Dobson et al.,
2008) and the melamine-tainted-milk powder event in China in
September 2008 (Chen, 2009). The common adulterants also
include urea, nitrates, alum, and soya-bean meal, besides
melamine (Attia, Bakir, Abdel-aziz, & Abdel-mottaleb, 2011), which
are all nitrogen-containing materials. There is no distinction
between protein nitrogen and non-protein nitrogen when the
adulterate milk is tested using the standard Kjeldahl method,
which only measures total nitrogen not nitrogen source/types,
and gives a false impression of levels of milk protein content. It
may be harmful to human health and is unethical. There is a need
to develop a rapid and reliable method not only for such safety
problems but also for quality in cases of adulteration with other
milks (Chen, 2009). Milk quality is generally evaluated by
determining total proteins, and it contains whey proteins (20%)
and caseins (80%) (Muller-Renaud, Dupont, & Dulieu, 2004). There
are four kinds of caseins in bovine milk, namely
a
S1- (37%),
a
S2- (10%), b- (37%), and
j
-caseins (10%), respectively (Johansson
et al., 2009). Among these, b-casein is the major indigenous. It con-
sistently makes up 35–45% total casein content (Colin, Laurent, &
Vignon, 1992; Remeuf, Lenoir, & Duby, 1989; Song, Xue, & Han,
2011). Thus, the quantity of b-casein in bovine milk could be used
as an index to evaluate its quality and detect dairy adulteration.
Various analytical techniques have been proposed for milk authen-
tication including optical immunosensor (Muller-Renaud et al.,
2004), single frequency electrical conductance measurements
(Mabrook & Petty, 2003), isoelectric focusing (Kim & Jimenez-Flo-
res, 1994; Rodríguez, Ortiz, Sarabia, & Gredilla, 2010), capillary
electrophoresis (Miralles, Ramos, & Amigo, 2000; Recio, Amigo, &
Lopez-Fandino, 1997), hydrophobic interaction chromatography
(Bramanti, Sortino, Onor, Beni, & Raspi, 2003) and enzyme-linked
immunosorbent assay (ELISA) (Hurley, Coleman, Ireland, &
Williams, 2006). However, most of these methods require sophis-
ticated, technical expertise.
Immunomagnetic beads (IMBs) have more surface area than a
flat solid phase, permitting more ‘active molecules’ to be
immobilised on the surface and enhancing sensitivity (Soh et al.,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2014.02.150
0308-8146/Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
⇑
Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 0431 87835734; fax: +86 13634318992.
E-mail address: zhouyu69@sina.com (Y. Zhou).
Food Chemistry 158 (2014) 445–448
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Food Chemistry
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/foodchem