Piezoelectric immunosensor for the detection of Edwardsiellosis

In this study, a QCM biosensor was made to detect Edwardsiella tarda (E. tarda) using a specific antibody. A 9 MHz AT-cut piezoelectric wafer layered with two gold electrodes of 5mm diameter had a reproducibility of 0.1 Hz in frequency response and was used as the transducer of the QCM biosensor. Self assembled layer (SAM) was conformed on a quartz crystal by treating with 3-mer-captopropionic acid (MPA) and activated with N-ethyl-N'-(3-dimethyl-aminopropyl) carbodiimide (EDC) and N-hydroxysuccinimide (NHS). The resulting NHS group was further converted to hydrazide by the reaction with hydrazine. Aldehyde group was introduced into the carbohydrate moiety of anti-E. tarda antibody by the reaction with periodic acid and was used to immobilise the antibody through the reaction with hydrazide group on the electrode surface. A baseline was established in the presence of phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) and a resonant frequency (F1) was measured. Sample was added to the sensor surface and second resonant frequency (F2) was measured after unbound substances were washed out with PBS several times. Finally, the frequency shift (ΔF) representing the mass change was calculated by subtracting F2 from F1. After adding the oxidized anti-E. tarda antibody to the electrode surface containing hydrazide group, frequency shift of 288.811.4 Hz (mean S.E) was observed, thus proving that considerable amount of antibody was immobilized. In the immunoassay test, the frequency shift of 1877.75 Hz, 580.67 Hz, 221.39 Hz, 7.671.83 Hz (mean S.E) were observed at doses of 1000, 500, 100, 50 g of bacterial cells, respectively. It was also demonstrated that the prepared sensor chip was stable enough to withstand repeated surface regeneration with 0.2 M Tris-glycine and 1 % DMSO, pH 2.3 more than ten times.