New flow-through analytical system based on ion-selective field effect transistors with optimised calcium selective photocurable membrane for bovine serum analysis

An analytical system based on ion-selective field effect transistors (ISFETs) with Ca2+ ion selective photocurable membranes is developed to offer a semiautomatic analysis of serum calcium concentration of ruminants. Optimisation of ion-sensitive membrane composition containing different copolymerised plasticizers was performed to minimise the effect of a highly lipophilic samples on sensors characteristics. To improve the system reliability the set of calibration solutions and measurement sequence were also optimised. The system was used to determine total calcium concentration in bovine sera. The precision of the ion determination was higher than reported for double charge ions with a standard deviation of about 3–7%. It is shown that the presence of coagulant in blood serum samples does not affect the determined total calcium concentration.