A new, versatile field immunosensor for environmental pollutants: development and proof of principle with TNT, diuron, and atrazine

Biosens Bioelectron. 2005 Aug 15;21(2):354-64. doi: 10.1016/j.bios.2004.10.027. Epub 2004 Dec 8.

Abstract

This paper presents a new, versatile, portable miniaturized flow-injection immunosensor which is designed for field analysis. The temperature-controlled field prototype can run for 6h without external power supply. The bio-recognition element is an analyte-specific antibody immobilized on a gold surface of pyramidal structures inside an exchangeable single-use chip, which hosts also the enzyme-tracer and the sample reservoirs. The competition between the enzyme-tracer and the analyte for the antigen-binding sites of the antibodies yields in the final step a chemiluminescence signal that is inversely proportional to the concentration of analyte in the given range of detection. A proof of principle is shown for nitroaromatics and pesticides. The detection limits (DL; IC20) reached with the field prototype in the laboratory was below 0.1 microg l(-1) for 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT), and about 0.2 microg l(-1) for diuron and atrazine, respectively. Important aspects in this development were the design of the competition between analyte and enzyme-tracer, the unspecific signal due to unspecific binding and/or luminescence background signal, and the flow pattern inside the chip.

Publication types

  • Evaluation Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Atrazine / analysis*
  • Biosensing Techniques / instrumentation*
  • Biosensing Techniques / methods
  • Diuron / analysis*
  • Environmental Monitoring / instrumentation*
  • Environmental Monitoring / methods
  • Environmental Pollution / analysis*
  • Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / instrumentation*
  • Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / methods
  • Equipment Design
  • Equipment Failure Analysis
  • Feasibility Studies
  • Flow Injection Analysis / instrumentation
  • Flow Injection Analysis / methods
  • Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / instrumentation
  • Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / methods
  • Trinitrotoluene / analysis*

Substances

  • Trinitrotoluene
  • Diuron
  • Atrazine