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Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA Protein)

The image displays a molecular structure resembling a bunch of grapes with individual molecules colored in shades of red, orange, and yellow.

Bovine serum albumin (BSA) is a monomeric protein made up of a single chain of amino acids with the molecular weight of 66.5 kDa and is found in the blood of cows. A major component of blood plasma, BSA is produced by the liver.
BSA is commonly used in laboratories as a supplement in biochemical and tissue culture media. The protein stabilizes extracellular fluid volume and acts as a carrier for small molecules such as steroids, fatty acids, and thyroid hormones. BSA is also used in a variety of research and industrial applications, including drug development, protein purification, and food processing. It is non-toxic and non-antigenic, so it is not expected to cause an immune response in humans or other animals. Therefore, it is generally considered to be safe for use in research and industrial applications.
We offer a range of BSA products that have been used and published in peer-reviewed articles for various applications, including cell culture, IHC, ELISA, Flow cytometry, and more. Our BSA products are suitable for both research and manufacturing purposes.

Section Overview

Using BSA as a Protein Standard

BSA is often used as a protein standard for quantification applications, such as to determine the total amount of protein in plasma samples. It is also frequently used as a reference standard for protein assays, as BSA is readily available, easy to purify, highly stable, and lacks enzymatic activity.

BSA fractionization methods

BSA can be purified through cold-ethanol fractionization or heat-shock fractionization. We offer cold-ethanol fractionation and heat-shock fractionization purified BSA in various forms, including as a lyophilized powder or as liquid solutions of different concentrations. Purified BSA is commonly used in cell and tissue culture, western blotting, immunoblotting, as a carrier protein, and as a blocking agent in immunoassays such as ELISAs to prevent non-specific binding of antibodies or other proteins. It can also stabilize enzymes and other proteins in solution and act as a protein supplement in cell culture media for enhanced nutrition. In addition, purified BSA is added to antibody solutions to increase their stability and longevity.

Bovine Serum Albumin Fraction V

Bovine serum albumin fraction V (BSA-FV) is a highly purified form of BSA. It has a high degree of purity, typically greater than 98%, and contains no detectable levels of other proteins or contaminants. BSA-FV is used to stabilize purified enzymes and as a site-blocking reagent in ELISA techniques.

Probumin® Bovine Serum Albumins

Probumin® bovine serum albumins are commonly-used BSA formulations for buffers, non-specific blocking, protein stabilization and other diagnostic applications. Probumin® BSA products are manufactured in house, as highly-purified and extensively tested powder or 30% solutions. They are available in different grades including crystallized, reagent, life science, diagnostic, and microbiological grades depending on its intended application. Given the diverse uses of BSA, here are some frequently asked questions and answers about the molecule, formats, methods, and applications.

Probumin® BSA is an MQ300 quality level product family often used for the manufacture of numerous FDA- and EMA-approved biologics, medical devices, animal vaccines and diagnostic assays. Our Probumin® BSA production facility in Kankakee, Illinois, USA operates under an ISO9001:2015 quality system and follows (EU) No. 142/2011 facility numbers in compliance with European regulations. As an MQ300 level product, each lot of BSA is accompanied by a Certificate of Analysis detailing complete product testing and specifications. We can provide an EDQM Certificate of Suitability upon request; Certificates of Origin are also available.

As part of the manufacturing process, several quality testing specifications are conducted including purity, IgG, Fatty Acids, Endotoxin, protease, and Adventitious Agents testing.

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