IntroductionCL is the production of electromagnetic radiation by a chemical reaction. The CL intensity is directly proportional to the concentration of a limiting reactant involved in the CL reaction. CL has been exploited for its use in a wide range of applications due to its high sensitivity, wide calibration range, and suitability for miniaturization. Protein and DNA analyses have recently attracted much attention. Many different types of techniques, such as electrochemical, optical, radiochemical, and piezoelectronic methods have been applied for protein and DNA analyses. To provide an overview of CL detection assays for DNAs and proteins, we have summarized their essential techniques. Monoplex and multiplex assays are described, and their current reports are intended to provide an overview of the CL techniques currently employed in numerous laboratories.
Monoplex AssayA monoplex assay aims to measure the presence of a single analyte in any given sample, in which nanoparticle, DNA enzyme, horseradish peroxidase (HRP), alkaline phosphatase (AP) and acridinium ester are commonly used as labels.
2·1 Nanoparticle-based CL techniquesNanoparticles offer excellent prospects for DNA detection and immunoassay, owing to their many attractive properties. Compared to existing labels, nanoparticles are more stable and cheaper, and easier to be purified. In addition, they indicate faster binding kinetics with high sensitivity and a high reaction rate for many types of monoplex assays, ranging from immunoassays to DNA detection.
2·1·1 Gold nanoparticlesColloidal gold labels are ideal in biotechnological systems for several reasons. Firstly, they can be readily prepared in a wide range of sizes, from approximately 2 nm to above 100 nm. Secondly, the biochemical activity of the labeled biomolecules can be retained when colloidal gold is coupled to the biomolecules and, thirdly, colloidal gold labels can be easily visualized as dense structures within biological entities using transmission electron microscopy. As a biological tag, colloidal gold has been employed in several CL detection systems. 2·1·1·1 Gold nanoparticle-based CL immunoassay. The Au 3+ -luminol reaction, in which 10 -9 M Au 3+ ions can be sensitively detected, is a classic CL reaction. Thousands of Au atoms are contained within the gold nanoparticles; for example, 2.3 ¥ 10 5 Au atoms are theoretically contained in a 20-nm spherical gold particle and, consequently, picomolar detection limits can be attained by employing oxidative gold metal dissolution in acidic solutions. Our group 1,2 reported a sensitive CL immunoassay based on a colloidal gold label after oxidative gold metal dissolution (using 0.01 M HCl-0.5 M NaCl-0.5 mM Br2), using a simple and sensitive luminol-CL reaction (Fig. 1).
Reviews
Chemiluminescence Platforms in Immunoassay and DNA AnalysesAiping FAN,* Zhijuan CAO,* Huan LI,* Masaaki KAI,** and Jianzhong LU* † *School of Pharmacy, Fudan University, 138 Yixueyuan Road, Shanghai 200032, China ** Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Graduate Scho...