Department of Chemistry, University of Toronto, 80 St George St., Toronto, ON M5S 3H6, Canada.
Anal Bioanal Chem. 2011 Jan;399(1):337-45. doi: 10.1007/s00216-010-4368-2. Epub 2010 Nov 7.
A digital microfluidic (DMF) device was applied to a heterogeneous sandwich immunoassay. The digital approach to microfluidics manipulates samples and reagents in the form of discrete droplets, as opposed to the streams of fluid used in microchannels. Since droplets are manipulated on relatively generic 2-D arrays of electrodes, DMF devices are straightforward to use, and are reconfigurable for any desired combination of droplet operations. This flexibility makes them suitable for a wide range of applications, especially those requiring long, multistep protocols such as immunoassays. Here, we developed an immunoassay on a DMF device using Human IgG as a model analyte. To capture the analyte, an anti-IgG antibody was physisorbed on the hydrophobic surface of a DMF device, and DMF actuation was used for all washing and incubation steps. The bound analyte was detected using FITC-labeled anti-IgG, and fluorescence after the final wash was measured in a fluorescence plate reader. A non-ionic polymer surfactant, Pluronic F-127, was added to sample and detection antibody solutions to control non-specific binding and aid in movement via DMF. Sample and reagent volumes were reduced by nearly three orders of magnitude relative to conventional multiwell plate methods. Since droplets are in constant motion, the antibody-antigen binding kinetics is not limited by diffusion, and total analysis times were reduced to less than 2.5 h per assay. A multiplexed device comprising several DMF platforms wired in series further increased the throughput of the technique. A dynamic range of approximately one order of magnitude was achieved, with reproducibility similar to the assay when performed in a 96-well plate. In bovine serum samples spiked with human IgG, the target molecule was successfully detected in the presence of a 100-fold excess of bovine IgG. It was concluded that the digital microfluidic format is capable of carrying out qualitative and quantitative sandwich immunoassays with a dramatic reduction in reagent usage and analysis time compared to macroscale methods.
一种数字微流控(DMF)装置被应用于异质夹心免疫分析。数字微流控技术以离散液滴的形式而非微通道中的流体流来操纵样品和试剂。由于液滴是在相对通用的二维电极阵列上进行操作,因此 DMF 装置易于使用,并且可以针对任何所需的液滴操作组合进行重新配置。这种灵活性使它们适用于广泛的应用,特别是那些需要长而多步的协议,如免疫分析。在这里,我们使用人 IgG 作为模型分析物在 DMF 装置上开发了一种免疫分析。为了捕获分析物,将抗 IgG 抗体物理吸附在 DMF 装置的疏水性表面上,并使用 DMF 驱动进行所有洗涤和孵育步骤。使用 FITC 标记的抗 IgG 检测结合的分析物,并且在荧光板读数器中测量最终洗涤后的荧光。非离子聚合物表面活性剂 Pluronic F-127 添加到样品和检测抗体溶液中,以控制非特异性结合并通过 DMF 辅助运动。与传统的多孔板方法相比,样品和试剂体积减少了近三个数量级。由于液滴处于不断运动中,因此抗体-抗原结合动力学不受扩散限制,总分析时间减少到每个测定不到 2.5 小时。串联的几个 DMF 平台组成的多路复用装置进一步提高了该技术的通量。实现了约一个数量级的动态范围,并且与在 96 孔板中进行的测定的重现性相似。在用人 IgG 掺杂的牛血清样品中,成功地在存在 100 倍过量的牛 IgG 的情况下检测到了靶分子。结论是,与宏观方法相比,数字微流控格式能够以试剂使用量和分析时间的大幅减少来进行定性和定量夹心免疫分析。