Wenjing Hu, Hui Zhang, Bingjian Zhang, Zi Lin
The preservation of ancient paintings has garnered significant research attention over the years. Various synthetic polymers and traditional materials have been employed to address the degradation of these valuable heritages, achieving notable success. As research in this field progresses, the importance of analyzing the composition of painting materials becomes increasingly apparent. Historically, the organic materials in these paintings were not thoroughly studied due to the limitations of precise analytical technology or the nascent state of historic preservation concepts. This study investigates whether the high sensitivity and specificity of immunological techniques remain effective in the presence of consolidants. We explore potential analytical interferences caused by polymers commonly used as consolidants and gelatin solutions in artworks. Employing enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), a highly specific analytical tool, we successfully applied this method to three micro-samples from historical paintings. Our findings indicate that while synthetic polymer consolidants reduce the ELISA signal, the assay remains useful. However, the presence of gelatin solutions can introduce analytical interferences, affecting protein identification.