Bruno Kessler Foundation, Center for Sensors & Devices, Via Sommarive 18, 38123 Trento, Italy.
National Research Council, Institute of Biophysics, Via alla Cascata 56/C, 38123 Trento, Italy.
Biosensors (Basel). 2023 Feb 27;13(3):325. doi: 10.3390/bios13030325.
The presence of residual antibiotics in food is increasingly emerging as a worrying risk for human health both for the possible direct toxicity and for the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. In the context of food safety, new methods based on microfluidics could offer better performance, providing improved rapidity, portability and sustainability, being more cost effective and easy to use. Here, a microfluidic method based on the use of magnetic microbeads specifically functionalized and inserted in polymeric microchambers is proposed. The microbeads are functionalized either with aptamers, antibodies or small functional groups able to interact with specific antibiotics. The setup of these different strategies as well as the performance of the different functionalizations are carefully evaluated and compared. The most promising results are obtained employing the functionalization with aptamers, which are able not only to capture and release almost all tetracycline present in the initial sample but also to deliver an enriched and simplified solution of antibiotic. These solutions of purified antibiotics are particularly suitable for further analyses, for example, with innovative methods, such as label-free detection. On the contrary, the on-chip process based on antibodies could capture only partially the antibiotics, as well as the protocol based on beads functionalized with small groups specific for sulfonamides. Therefore, the on-chip purification with aptamers combined with new portable detection systems opens new possibilities for the development of sensors in the field of food safety.
食品中残留抗生素的存在对人类健康构成了越来越令人担忧的风险，不仅因为其可能具有直接毒性，还因为其会导致抗生素耐药菌的产生。在食品安全方面，基于微流控技术的新方法可能会提供更好的性能，提供更快的速度、更好的便携性和可持续性，同时更具成本效益且易于使用。在这里，提出了一种基于使用专门功能化并插入聚合物微腔中的磁性微珠的微流控方法。微珠可以通过适体、抗体或能够与特定抗生素相互作用的小官能团进行功能化。仔细评估和比较了这些不同策略的设置以及不同功能化的性能。采用适体进行功能化可获得最有前景的结果，适体不仅能够捕获并释放初始样品中几乎所有的四环素，还能够提供富含和简化的抗生素溶液。这些纯化抗生素溶液特别适合进一步分析，例如采用无标记检测等创新方法。相反，基于抗体的芯片上过程只能部分捕获抗生素，而基于与磺胺类药物特异性结合的小基团进行功能化的珠粒的芯片上过程也是如此。因此，基于适体的芯片上纯化与新型便携式检测系统相结合，为食品安全领域的传感器开发开辟了新的可能性。
