Bovine Serum Albumin: is a serum albumin protein isolated from cows

                       Bovine Serum Albumin

Bovine serum albumin (BSA) is frequently employed as a protein supplement in cell culture medium, and leftover bovine serum albumin in some formulations has caused detrimental effects on occasion. Itching and urticaria are the most common symptoms. After the bone marrow cells were maintained in bovine serum albumin, an allergic response was reported in a patient having bone marrow transplantation. Bovine serum albumin, a component of sperm processing medium, has been linked to deleterious consequences during intrauterine insemination. Early childhood membranous nephropathy has also been linked to bovine serum albumin. Because cell cultures used to manufacture recombinant proteins frequently include bovine serum albumin, the possibility of nvCJD transmission through recombinant proteins is uncertain.

According To Coherent Market Insights "The global bovine serum albumin market is estimated to be valued at US$ 291.7 million in 2021 and is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 3.1% between 2021 and 2028."


ELISAs (Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assays), immunoblots, and immunohistochemistry are only a few of the biochemical uses for BSA. Bovine serum albumin is frequently employed as a blocker in immunohistochemistry because it is a tiny, stable, fairly non-reactive protein. Tissue sections are frequently treated with BSA blockers to engage nonspecific binding sites during immunohistochemistry, which is the process of using antibodies to detect antigens in cells. Because BSA binds to nonspecific binding sites, the antibodies are more likely to attach solely to the antigens of interest.


Since the sites are covered with the moderately non-reactive protein, the BSA blocker increases sensitivity by reducing background noise. In order to get the best signal-to-noise ratio, nonspecific antibody binding must be minimised throughout this procedure. Bovine serum albumin is also utilised in cell and microbial culture as a nutrition. BSA is used in restriction digests to stabilise certain enzymes during DNA digestion and to prevent the enzyme from adhering to reaction tubes, pipette tips, and other vessels. Other enzymes that do not require it for stability are unaffected by this protein. By comparing an unknown quantity of protein to known quantities of BSA, BSA is also widely used to determine the quantity of other proteins (see Bradford protein assay).


BSA is employed because of its capacity to boost signal in assays, its lack of influence in many biochemical reactions, and its inexpensive cost, as it can be easily isolated from bovine blood, a byproduct of the cattle industry, in huge amounts. BSA can also be used to temporarily isolate compounds that are inhibiting the polymerase chain reaction by preventing the activity of the enzyme required (PCR). BSA has long been utilised as a template for the creation of nanostructures.