Pharmaceuticals,
certain food ingredients, and mammalian endogenous
metabolic products in wastewater are mostly of human origin. They are anthropogenic markers. Proper knowledge
of their levels in wastewater helps to track sources of pollutants
in natural waters and allows for calculation of removal efficiencies
in wastewater treatment plants. Here, we describe the development
and application of an indirect competitive, multiplexing suspension
array fluorescence immunoassay (SAFIA) for the detection of carbamazepine
(CBZ), diclofenac (DCF), caffeine (CAF), and isolithocholic acid (ILA)
in wastewater, covering those classes of anthropogenic markers. The
assay consists of haptens covalently conjugated to fluorescence-encoded
polystyrene core/silica shell microparticles to create a site for
competitive binding of the antibodies (Abs). Bound Abs are then stained
with fluorophore-labeled Abs. Encoding and signaling fluorescence
of the particles are determined by an automated flow cytometer. For
compatibility of the immunoassay with the 96-well microtiter plate
format, a stop reagent, containing formaldehyde, is used. This enables
a wash-free procedure while decreasing time-to-result. Detection limits
of 140 ± 40 ng/L for CBZ, 180 ± 110 ng/L for CAF, 4 ±
3 ng/L for DCF, and 310 ± 70 ng/L for ILA are achieved, which
meet the sensitivity criteria of wastewater analysis. We demonstrate
the applicability of SAFIA to real wastewater samples from three different
wastewater treatment plants, finding the results in good agreement
with LC-MS/MS. Moreover, the accuracy in general exceeded that from
classical ELISAs. We therefore propose SAFIA as a quick and reliable
approach for wastewater analysis meeting the requirements for process
analytical technology.