No abstract

We present the principle of a fast magnetic field enhanced colloidal agglutination assay, which is based on the acceleration of the recognition rate between ligands and receptors induced by magnetic forces. By applying a homogeneous magnetic field of 20 mT for only 7 s, we detect CRP (C-reactive protein) in human serum at a concentration as low as 1 pM for a total cycle time of about 1 min in a prototype analyzer. Such a short measurement time does not impair the performances of the assay when compared to longer experiments. The concentration range dynamic is shown to cover 3 orders of magnitude. An analytical model of agglutination is also successfully fitting our data obtained with a short magnetic pulse.

In this paper we present a simple method to quantify aggregates of 200nm magnetic particles. This method relies on the optical and magnetic anisotropy of particle aggregates, whereas dispersed particles are optically isotropic. We orientate aggregates by applying short pulses of a magnetic field, and we measure optical density variation directly linked to this reorientation. By computing the scattering efficiency of doublets and singlets, we demonstrate the absolute quantification of a few % of doublets in a well dispersed suspension. More generally, these optical variations are related to the aggregation state of the sample. This method can be easily applied to an agglutination assay, where target proteins induce aggregation of colloidal particles. By observing only aligned clusters, we increase sensitivity and we reduce the background noise as compared to a classical agglutination assay: we obtain a detection limit on the C-reactive protein of less than 3pM for a total assay time of 10min.