title: Immunosensing platforms using spontaneously adsorbed antibody fragments on gold.
abstract: This paper describes the construction and characterization of miniaturized antigenic immunosurfaces composed of spontaneously adsorbed Fab'-SH fragments on gold. Rabbit Fab'-SH fragments contain a free sulfhydryl group that forms a thiolate bond with a gold substrate as detailed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. This approach creates surfaces of higher epitope density, a factor critical to the early detection of disease, than surfaces composed of adsorbed whole molecule IgG on gold. The viability and specificity of antigenic Fab'-SH immunosurfaces is demonstrated using atomic force microscopy and confocal fluorescence microscopy, and possible explanations for the larger epitope density are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Microanalytical Instrumentation Center, Ames Laboratory-USDOE, Iowa, USA.
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: O'Brien
authors.forename: V W
authors.initials: VW
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Porter
authors.forename: C L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Mosher
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Henderson
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D000818:Animals; D015374:Biosensing Techniques; D000939:Epitopes; D006046:Gold; D007140:Immunoglobulin Fab Fragments; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D011817:Rabbits; D013438:Sulfhydryl Compounds; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D000939:Epitopes; D007140:Immunoglobulin Fab Fragments; D013438:Sulfhydryl Compounds; D006046:Gold