Detection of a foreign protein in milk using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy coupled with antibody-modified silver dendrites

Herein we developed a rapid and simple method which used surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) coupled with antibody-modified silver dendrites to detect ovalbumin (OVA), the egg white protein, introduced into whole milk. OVA was first captured out of milk by use of antibody-modified silver dendrites and then directly measured on the silver dendrites by Raman spectroscopy. Results show that this method is capable of detecting OVA at 0.1 μg/mL in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) and 5 μg/mL in milk within 30 min based on the principal component analysis. This method has the potential for wide use in areas such as allergenic protein detection and bioterrorism agent detection in complex matrixes.