An acetylcholinesterase antibody-based quartz crystal microbalance for the rapid identification of spinal ventral and dorsal roots

PLoS One. 2013 Jul 23;8(7):e69049. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0069049. Print 2013.

Abstract

Differences in the levels of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) in ventral and dorsal spinal roots can be used to differentiate the spinal nerves. Although many methods are available to assay AChE, a rapid and sensitive method has not been previously developed. Here, we describe an antibody-based quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) assay and its application for the quantification of AChE in the solutions of ventral and dorsal spinal roots. The frequency variation of the QCM device corresponds to the level of AChE over a wide dynamic range (0.5-10 µg/ml), which is comparable to the response range of the ELISA method. The frequency shift caused by the ventral roots is 3-fold greater than that caused by the dorsal roots. The antibody-based QCM sensor was stable across many successive replicate samples, and the method required less than 10 min, including the AChE extraction and analysis steps. This method is a rapid and convenient means for the quantification of AChE in biological samples and may be applicable for distinguishing the ventral and dorsal roots during surgical operations.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Acetylcholinesterase / immunology*
  • Acetylcholinesterase / metabolism
  • Animals
  • Antibodies / immunology*
  • Axons / enzymology
  • Dogs
  • Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
  • Immunohistochemistry
  • Quartz Crystal Microbalance Techniques / methods*
  • Spinal Nerve Roots / enzymology*

Substances

  • Antibodies
  • Acetylcholinesterase

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant #81171694, #30973058), Jiangsu Province Nature Science Foundation (BE2010743), Jiangsu graduate student innovation project (CXZZ11_0721), the Program for Development of Innovative Research Team in the First Affiliated Hospital of NJMU (No. IRT-015) and a project funded by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (JX10231801). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.