Tammineni Yathirajarao, Kumar Pankaj, Reddy Shashidhar, Birader Komal, Kumar Kapil, Arumugam Anitha, Saha Sujit, Nayee Nilesh, Suman Pankaj
National Institute of Animal Biotechnology, Hyderabad, India.
Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India.
NPJ Sci Food. 2025 Aug 22;9(1):182. doi: 10.1038/s41538-025-00519-3.
Antimicrobial resistance in mastitis-associated pathogens has heightened concerns over the safety of raw milk, which transmits pathogens from animals to humans. Elevated somatic cell count (SCC) is widely recognized as a key indicator of microbial quality in milk, often linked to mastitis infections. High SCC alters milk composition, compromises milk quality, and reduces shelf life, rendering it unsuitable for consumption. Current methods for quantitative SSC, such as flow cytometry and microscopy, are effective but impractical for on-site applications. To bridge this gap, we developed QuantM, a portable and affordable device that employs amine-functionalized iron oxide nanoparticles to isolate somatic cells from milk via surfactant-induced aggregation. It quantifies SCC in field conditions within 10 minutes, achieving 94.74% sensitivity, 90.0% specificity, and 94.74% accuracy, with a detection limit of 0.017 million cells/mL compared to flow cytometry. This low-cost solution (<$0.10 per test) promises to enhance milk quality and safeguard public health.
乳腺炎相关病原体的抗菌耐药性加剧了人们对生牛奶安全性的担忧，因为生牛奶会将病原体从动物传播给人类。体细胞计数（SCC）升高被广泛认为是牛奶微生物质量的关键指标，通常与乳腺炎感染有关。高体细胞计数会改变牛奶成分，损害牛奶质量，并缩短保质期，使其不适于消费。当前用于定量体细胞计数的方法，如流式细胞术和显微镜检查，虽然有效，但不适用于现场应用。为了弥补这一差距，我们开发了QuantM，这是一种便携式且价格实惠的设备，它采用胺功能化氧化铁纳米颗粒，通过表面活性剂诱导聚集从牛奶中分离体细胞。它能在10分钟内对现场条件下的体细胞计数进行定量，与流式细胞术相比，灵敏度达到94.74%，特异性为90.0%，准确率为94.74%，检测限为0.017万个细胞/毫升。这种低成本解决方案（每次检测成本低于0.10美元）有望提高牛奶质量并保障公众健康。
