Immunosensors immunoassays

Immunosensors promise to become principal players ia chemical, diagnostic, and environmental analyses by the latter 1990s. Given the practical limits of immunosensors (low ppb or ng/mL to mid-pptr or pg/mL) and their portabiUty, the primary appHcation is expected to be as rapid screening devices ia noncentralized clinical laboratories, ia iatensive care faciUties, and as bedside monitors, ia physicians offices, and ia environmental and iadustrial settings (49—52). Industrial appHcations for immunosensors will also include use as the basis for automated on-line or flow-injection analysis systems to analyze and control pharmaceutical, food, and chemical processing lines (53). Immunosensors are not expected to replace laboratory-based immunoassays, but to open up new appHcations for immunoassay-based technology. 

Enzyme Immunosensors. Enzyme immunosensors are enzyme immunoassays coupled with electrochemical sensors. These sensors (qv) require multiple steps for analyte determination, and either sandwich assays or competitive binding assays maybe used. Both of these assays use antibodies for the analyte of interest attached to a membrane on the surface of an electrochemical sensor. In the sandwich assay type, the membrane-bound antibody binds the sample antigen, which in turn binds another antibody that is enzyme-labeled. This immunosensor is then placed in a solution containing the substrate for the labeling enzyme and the rate of product formation is measured electrochemically. The rate of the reaction is proportional to the amount of bound enzyme and thus to the amount of the analyte antigen. The sandwich assay can be used only with antigens capable of binding two different antibodies simultaneously (53). 

Enzyme immunosensors are used in flow injection systems and Hquid chromatography to provide automated on-line analyses (71—73). These systems are capable of continuously executing the steps involved in the immunoassays, including the binding reactions, washing, and the enzyme reaction, in about 10 minutes. 

The working conditions of the immunosensor (enzyme and antigen concentrations, dilutions of the antibodies, pH of the buffer solution) were found. The cholinesterase immobilized demonstrated the maximum catalytic activity in phosphate buffer solution with pH 8.0. The analytical chai acteristics of the sensor - the interval of the working concentrations and detection limit - have been obtained. The proposed approach of immunoassay made possible to detect 5T0 mg/ml of the bacterial antigen. 

Ilkovic equation, 62 Immobilization,, enzyme, 172 Immunoassays, 185 Immunosensors, 183 Infrared spectroelectrochemistiy, 44 Instrumentation, 104 Insulin release, 178... 

The development of immunosensors is one of the most active research areas in immun-odiagnostics. A large number of immunosensors, which combine the sensitivity and specificity of immunoassays with physical signal transduction, have been developed... 

Stemesjo A., Mellgren C., Bjorck L., Analysis of Sulfamethazine in Milk by an Immunosensor assay Based on Surface Plasmon Resonance, Immunoassays For Residue Analysis, ACS Symposium Series, 621 463-470 (1996). 

There is a continuing demand for fast and simple analytical methods for the determination of many clinical, biochemical and environmental analytes. In this respect, immunoassays and immunosensors that rely on antibody-antigen interactions provide a promising means of analysis owing to their specificity and sensitivity. High specificity... 

Competitive immunoassays may also be used to determine small chemical substances [10, 11]. An electrochemical immunosensor based on a competitive immunoassay for the small molecule estradiol has recently been reported [11]. A schematic diagram of this immunoassay is depicted in Fig. 5.3. In this system, anti-mouse IgG was physisorbed onto the surface of an SPCE. This was used to bind monoclonal mouse anti-estradiol antibody. The antibody coated SPCE was then exposed to a standard solution of estradiol (E2), followed by a solution of AP-labeled estradiol (AP-E2). The E2 and AP-E2 competed for a limited number of antigen binding sites of the immobilized anti-estradiol antibody. Quantitative analysis was based on differential pulse voltammetry of 1-naphthol, which is produced from the enzymatic hydrolysis of the enzyme substrate 1-naphthyl phosphate by AP-E2. The analytical range of this sensor was between 25 and 500pg ml. 1 of E2. 

There are many other examples of competitive electrochemical immunoassays and immunosensors for detecting clinically important analytes [12-14], Despite simplicity, a disadvantage of competitive immunoassays is that labeling the analyte may reduce, or totally remove, its binding affinity for antibody. This would occur if the analyte were labeled at a site that is closely associated with an epitope. 

FIGURE 5.6 Schematic representation of the immunosensor based on a Protein A-GEB biocomposite as a transducer, (a) Immobilization of RlgG on the surface via interaction with Protein A, (b) competitive immunoassay using anti-RIgG and biotinylated anti-RIgG, (c) enzyme labeling using HRP-streptavidin and (d) electrochemical enzyme activity determination. (Reprinted from [31] with permission from Elsevier.)... 

---