Sensitive bioassay for detection of PPARα potentially hazardous ligands with gold nanoparticle probe

► We develop a sensitive and high throughput method to screen PPARα ligands. ► This method is based on the ligand-receptor interaction on microplate. ► The sensitivity is increased through sliver enhancement on captured gold nanoparticle probes. ► There is a significant correlation between the bioassay and LC-MS for water spiked samples.