Rapid determination of beta-agonists in pig urine using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy

Beta-agonists are a class of drugs for treating asthma, which are often illegally used as additives in livestock breeding, causing muscle trembling, panic, headache, and other distressing symptoms. Here, we developed a rapid and non-destructive surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) method for the detection of beta-agonists in pig urine. The common characteristics of beta-agonists in Raman spectra were summarized. And the Raman signals at 795-853 cm^-1, 998-1037 cm^-1, and 1451 cm^-1 were identified as the Raman characteristic peaks of beta-agonists. The concentration of beta-agonists in a range of 1-10 mg L^-1 displayed an excellent linear relation with the peak intensity. Compared with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis, our method showed good accuracy (relative error less than 13%) in the detection of beta-agonist samples. All in all, this method showed high-potential for rapid and non-destructive screening of pigs containing beta-agonists.