Bubble cell for magnetic bead trapping in capillary electrophoresis

A bubble cell capillary classically used to extend the optical path length for UV–vis detection is employed here to trap magnetic beads. With this system, a large amount of beads can be captured without inducing a strong pressure drop, as it is the case with magnetic beads trapped in a standard capillary, thereby having less effect on the experimental conditions. Using numerical simulations and microscopic visualizations, the capture of beads inside a bubble cell was investigated with two magnet configurations. Pressure-driven and electro-osmotic flow velocities were measured for different amounts of protein-A-coated beads or C18-functionalized beads (RPC-18). Solid-phase extraction of a model antibody on protein-A beads and preconcentration of fluorescein on RPC-18 beads were performed as proof of concept experiments.     

负载高密度乙肝检测探针磁珠的制备及性能

本文介绍了一种负载高密度乙肝检测探针磁珠的制备技术,并对其在乙肝检测中的应用性能进行了研究,开辟了一种乙肝检测的新方法。首先通过化学键连接的方法制备出表面偶联乙肝抗体的磁性复合微球（亦称“乙肝抗原检测免疫磁珠”）,之后将其用于乙肝检测研究表现出了较好的效果,为了进一步提高其检测准确性及灵敏性,对乙肝免疫磁珠的制备过程进行了优化,包括磁珠的胺化工艺及抗体的偶联工艺。通过优化得到氨基磁性复合微球的氨基含量为2.71 mmol/g、单位磁珠抗体偶联量为108.36 ug/mg、偶联效率为77.40%的负载高密度乙肝检测探针的磁珠。并在此过程中采用类“双抗原夹心酶联免疫法”对乙肝抗体的活性及优化效果进行了检测。通过性能检测比较,磁珠法检测灵敏度高于普通酶联免疫法。     

Analysis of single polymer beads for solid phase combinatorial synthesis: the determination of reactive thiol and within batch polydispersity of bead loadings

Polymer beads are the starting point of many synthetic protocols, and in a number of combinatorial syntheses such studies are based on single beads. It has therefore become important that individual beads carry the same functional group activity and quality control of populations of beads requires a knowledge of the distribution of activity between the individual beads. A procedure was developed for the measurement of the thiol loading of single copolymer beads which is based on the bleaching of Michler's hydrol [4,4'-bis(dimethylamino)-diphenylcarbinol (BDC-OH)]. Flow injection colorimetry permits the small volumes of solution generated from single beads to be measured with rapid turnover and with a reproducibility of ca. 2%. The solution detection limit of 0.17 mM corresponds to a bead thiol concentration of 0.33 mmol g-1. The procedure and the variability of a bead population were demonstrated using modified styrene-divinylbenzene copolymer beads. The apparatus allowed fast, simple and accurate determinations to be carried out on the individual polymer beads. Within a single batch of thiol-modified styrene-divinylbenzene beads thiol loadings ranged from < 0.35 to 2.07 mmol g-1 or 0.12 to 1.3 mumol per bead. Polydispersity may therefore significantly influence screening decisions based on single bead syntheses.     

Self-Propelling Hybrid Gels Incorporating an Active Self-Assembled,Low-Molecular-Weight Gelator

Hybrid gel beads based on combining a low-molecular-weight gelator (LMWG) with a polymer gelator (PG) demonstrate an enhanced ability to self-propel in water, with the LMWG playing an active role. Hybrid gel beads were loaded with ethanol and shown to move in water owing to the Marangoni effect changes in surface tension caused by the expulsion of ethanol – smaller beads move farther and faster than larger beads. Flat shapes of the hybrid gel were cut using a “stamp” – circles moved the furthest, whereas stars showed more rotation on their own axes. Comparing hybrid LMWG/PG gel beads with PG-only beads demonstrated that the LMWG speeds up the beads, enhancing the rate of self-propulsion. Self-assembly of the LMWG into a “solid-like” network prevents its leaching from the gel. The LMWG also retains its own unique function – specifically, remediating methylene blue pollutant dye from basic water as a result of noncovalent interactions. The mobile hybrid beads accumulate this dye more effectively than PG-only beads. Self-propelling gel beads have potential applications in removal/delivery of active agents in environmental or biological settings. The ability of self-assembling LMWGs to enhance mobility and control removal/delivery suggests that adding them to self-propelling systems can add significant value.     

Enhanced and selective adsorption of mercury ions on chitosan beads grafted with polyacrylamide via surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization

Enhanced and selective removal of mercury ions was achieved with chitosan beads grafted with polyacrylamide (chitosan-g-polyacrylamide) via surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). The chitosan-g-polyacrylamide beads were found to have significantly greater adsorption capacities and faster adsorption kinetics for mercury ions than the chitosan beads. At pH 4 and with initial mercury concentrations of 10-200 mg/L, the chitosan-g-polyacrylamide beads can achieve a maximum adsorption capacity of up to 322.6 mg/g (in comparison with 181.8 mg/g for the chitosan beads) and displayed a short adsorption equilibrium time of less than 60 min (compared to more than 15 h for the chitosan beads). Coadsorption experiments with both mercury and lead ions showed that the chitosan-g-polyacrylamide beads had excellent selectivity in the adsorption of mercury ions over lead ions at pH < 6, in contrast to the chitosan beads, which did not show clear selectivity for either of the two metal species. Mechanism study suggested that the enhanced mercury adsorption was due to the many amide groups grafted onto the surfaces of the beads, and the selectivity in mercury adsorption can be attributed to the ability of mercury ions to form covalent bonds with the amide. It was found that adsorbed mercury ions on the chitosan-g-polyacrylamide beads can be effectively desorbed in a perchloric acid solution, and the regenerated beads can be reused almost without any loss of adsorption capacity.     

Binding behaviour of molecularly imprinted polymers prepared by a hierarchical approach in mesoporous silica beads of varying porosity

One of the most interesting methods for preparing molecularly imprinted polymers with controlled morphology consists in filling the pores of silica beads with an imprinting mixture, polymerizing it and dissolving the support, leaving porous imprinted beads that are the "negative image" of the silica beads. The main advantage of such an approach consists in the easy preparation of spherical imprinted polymeric particles with narrow diameter and pore size distribution, particularly indicated for chromatographic applications. In this approach it has been shown that the resulting morphology of polymeric beads depends essentially on the porosity and surface properties of the silica beads that act as microreactors for the thermopolymerization process. Anyway, it is not yet clear if the porosity of the silica beads influences the binding properties of the resulting imprinted beads. In this paper, we report the effect of different porosities of the starting mesoporous silica beads on the resulting binding properties of imprinted polymers with molecular recognition properties towards the fungicide carbendazim. The morphological properties of the imprinted beads prepared through this hierarchical approach were measured by nitrogen adsorption porosimetry and compared with a reference imprinted material prepared by bulk polymerization. The chromatographic behaviour of HPLC columns packed with the imprinted materials were examined by eluting increasing amounts of carbendazim and extracting the binding parameters through a peak profiling approach. The experimental results obtained show that the resulting binding properties of the imprinted beads are strongly affected by the polymerization approach used but not by the initial porosity of the silica beads, with the sole exception of the binding site density, which appears to be inversely proportional to them.     

Kinetic study of chitosan‐tripolyphosphate complex reaction and acid‐resistive properties of the chitosan‐tripolyphosphate gel beads prepared by in‐liquid curing method

Chitosan gel beads were prepared using an in‐liquid curing method by the ionotropic crosslinking with sodium tripolyphosphate. Crosslinking characteristics of the chitosan‐TPP beads were improved by the modification of in‐liquid curing mechanism of the beads in TPP solution. Chitosan gel beads cured in pH value lower than 6 were really ionic‐crosslinking controlled, whereas chitosan gel beads cured in pH values higher than 7 were coacervation‐phase inversion controlled accompanied with slightly ionic‐crosslinking dependence. According to the result, significantly increasing the ionic‐crosslinking density of chitosan beads could be achieved by transferring the pH value of the curing agent, TPP, from basic to acidic. The swelling behavior of various chitosan beads in acid appeared to depend on the ionic‐crosslinking density of the chitosan‐TPP beads that were deeply affected by the curing mechanism of the beads. The mechanism of chitosan‐TPP beads swollen in weak acid was chain‐relaxation controlled, while the mechanism of chitosan‐TPP beads swollen in strong acid seem to be not only chain‐relaxation but also chain‐scission controlled. Chitosan‐TPP beads prepared in acidic TPP solution decreased the chain‐scission ability due to the increase of ionic crosslinking density of the beads. By the transition of curing mechanism, the swelling degree of chitosan‐TPP beads was depressed, and the disintegration of chitosan‐TPP beads would not occur in strong acid. The mechanism of ionic‐crosslinking reaction of chitosan beads could be investigated by an unreacted core model, and the curing mechanism of the chitosan beads is mainly diffusion controlled when higher than 5% of chitosan was employed. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 37: 1551–1564, 1999     

Immobilization of aminophenylboronic acid on magnetic beads for the direct determination of glycoproteins by matrix assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry

Aminophenylboronic acid (APBA) has been immobilized on magnetic beads for the direct determination of glycoprotein by matrix assisted laser desorption/ionizaton time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS). An APBA layer was formed on the surface of carboxylic acid terminated magnetic beads by coupling with carbodiimide and subsequently reacted with an N-hydroxysuccinimide moiety. The immobilized APBA was identified by MALDI-TOF-MS without a matrix. Glycoproteins, such as HbA1c, fibrinogen, or RNase B were separated and desalted using APBA magnetic beads by simply washing the magnetic beads and then separating them by external magnet. Proteins can be identified by direct determination of proteins on beads on MALDI plate and confirmed again by peptide mass finger printing after digestion of proteins on magnetic beads by trypsin. Fluorescence image with a FITC tagging protein using confocal laser microscopy showed the difference of immobilization efficiency between glycoproteins and nonglycoproteins. The methods developed within this work allow the simple treatment and enrichment of glycoproteins as well as direct determination of proteins on beads by MALDI-TOF-MS.     

Microarray of DNA probes on carboxylate functional beads surface

The microarray of DNA probes with 5' -NH2 and 5' -Tex/3' -NH2 modified terminus on 10 um carboxylate functional beads surface in the presence of 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-carbodiimide (EDC) is characterized in the preseni paper. it was found that the microarray capacity of DNA probes on the beads surface depends on the pH of the aqueous solution, the concentra-tion of DNA probe and the total surface area of the beads. On optimal conditions, the minimum distance of 20 mer single-stranded DNA probe microarrayed on beads surface is about 14 nm, while that of 20 mer double-stranded DNA probes is about 27 nm. If the probe length increases from 20 mer to 35 mer, its microarray density decreases correspondingly. Mechanism study shows that the binding mode of DNA probes on the beads surface is nearly parallel to the beads surface.     

Microscopic examination of chitosan-polyphosphate beads with entrapped spores of the biocontrol agent, Streptomyces melanosporofaciens EF-76.

Spores of the biocontrol agent, Streptomyces melanosporofaciens EF-76, were entrapped by complex coacervation in beads composed of a macromolecular complex (MC) of chitosan and polyphosphate. A proportion of spores entrapped in beads survived the entrapment procedure as shown by treating spores from chitosan beads with a dye allowing the differentiation of live and dead cells. The spore-loaded chitosan beads could be digested by a chitosanase, suggesting that, once introduced in soil, the beads would be degraded to release the biocontrol agent. Spore-loaded beads were examined by optical and scanning electron microscopy because the release of the biological agent depends on the spore distribution in the chitosan beads. The microscopic examination revealed that the beads had a porous surface and contained a network of inner microfibrils. Spores were entrapped in both the chitosan microfibrils and the bead lacuna.     

Immobilization of trypsin on porous glycidyl methacrylate beads: effects of polymer hydrophilization

The immobilization of trypsin at porous glycidyl methacrylate (GMA-GDMA) beads was investigated. In particular, the effects of surface modification of the beads through hydrophilic polymers on the amount protein immobilized and on the extent of retained activity after immobilization were adressed. Furthermore, immobilization at unmodified and hydrophilized beads from aqueous solution was compared to that from a water-in-oil microemulsion. It was found that the amount trypsin immobilized at the unmodified GMA-GDMA beads was significantly higher than that at hydrophilized GMA-GDMA beads. However, also the extent of specific activity loss after immobilization was larger for the unmodified than for the hydrophilized beads. Despite the latter, however, the total activity displayed by the hydrophilized beads was comparable to the unmodified beads at best. On the other hand, by peforming the immobilization from the microemulsion a high immobilization yield can be reached even for the hydrophilized beads, which also results in a higher degree of retained activity in the latter case than obtained for immobilization at the unmodified beads. Using this approach therefore resulted in the highest total activity of the trypsin-activated GMA-GDMA beads.     

亚微米级免疫磁球及其在细菌分离中的应用

以亚微米级的单分散磁性微球为基础,制备出了表面包被有沙门氏菌抗体的免疫磁球. 利用表面电位、荧光和ELISA等方法研究了抗体在磁性微球表面的吸附行为. 在沙门氏菌磁分离实验中,通过调节投料抗体的浓度,研究了免疫磁球表面抗体浓度和磁分离效率的相关性,与微米级商品化免疫磁球的对比中,亚微米级的免疫磁球表现出了更高的磁分离效率.     

On-chip magnetic bead microarray using hydrodynamic focusing in a passive magnetic separator

Implementing DNA and protein microarrays into lab-on-a-chip systems can be problematic since these are sensitive to heat and strong chemicals. Here, we describe the functionalization of a microchannel with two types of magnetic beads using hydrodynamic focusing combined with a passive magnetic separator with arrays of soft magnetic elements. The soft magnetic elements placed on both sides of the channel are magnetized by a relatively weak applied external magnetic field (21 mT) and provide magnetic field gradients attracting magnetic beads. Flows with two differently functionalized magnetic beads and a separating barrier flow are introduced simultaneously at the two channel sides and the centre of the microfluidic channel, respectively. On-chip experiments with fluorescence labeled beads demonstrate that the two types of beads are captured at each of the channel sidewalls. On-chip hybridization experiments show that the microfluidic systems can be functionalized with two sets of beads carrying different probes that selectively recognize a single base pair mismatch in target DNA. By switching the places of the two types of beads it is shown that the microsystem can be cleaned and functionalized repeatedly with different beads with no cross-talk between experiments.     

壳聚糖-g-聚甲基丙烯酸凝胶粒的制备及其药物释放行为

以壳聚糖和甲基丙烯酸为原料,硝酸铈铵为引发剂,合成了不同接枝率的壳聚糖-g-聚甲基丙烯酸(CS-g-PMAA),用FTIR、1H NMR和元素分析表征了产物的结构,以柠檬酸三钠和戊二醛为交联剂制备了具有核壳结构的CS-g-PMAA载药体系。 用UV/Vis检测了CS-g-PMAA粒子对模型药物的释放行为。 结果表明,CS-g-PMAA接枝率为12.21%时药物释放速率最慢,其在pH=1.8介质中药物累积释放量(11 h)为44.18%,而壳聚糖粒子的累积释放量高达65.24%,即接枝改性壳聚糖粒子对药物的缓慢控制释放性能较好; CS-g-PMAA粒子的释药行为还依赖于介质的pH值和盐浓度,在低pH值和低盐浓度下,药物释放速率较快;酶环境下由于载体材料的降解使药物释放速率加快。 分析了不同条件下CS-g-PMAA载药粒子中药物的释放机理。     

Gellan beads as a transparent media for protein immobilization and affinity capture

Gellan gum beads are presented as a novel substrate for protein immobilization and immobilized protein activity measurements. The optical transparency of the gellan beads down to 200 nm provides a method for direct quantitation of the amount of protein immobilized onto the beads. The ability to utilize these beads in a non-aqueous activation step allowed for a fourfold increase in the amount of protein immobilized, and this method was used to immobilize Protein A onto gellan beads at a final yield of 1.42+/-0.07 mg of Protein A/g of beads. The optical transparency also allowed for detection of the activity of the immobilized Protein A simply by measuring the absorbance of the beads following capture of rabbit IgG. This activity measurement method was compared with a traditional method utilizing the amount of protein remaining in solution after the IgG capture step. The traditional method yielded an activity measurement of 10.9+/-0.2 mg IgG/mg of Protein A, while the absorbance method showed an activity of only 7.5+/-0.3 mg IgG/mg of Protein A. The difference can be explained by the more direct measurement used in the absorbance method. The optical transparency of the beads was also evaluated in a fluorescence based IgG capture experiment, showing that detection of fluorescent IgG captured on the beads was possible with no interference from the beads.     

A Nonaqueous Redox-Matched Flow Battery with Charge Storage in Insoluble Polymer Beads**

We describe the nonaqueous redox-matched flow battery (RMFB), where charge is stored on redox-active moieties covalently tethered to non-circulating, insoluble polymer beads and charge is transferred between the electrodes and the beads via soluble mediators with redox potentials matched to the active moieties on the beads. The RMFB reported herein uses ferrocene and viologen derivatives bound to crosslinked polystyrene beads. Charge storage in the beads leads to a high (approximately 1.0–1.7 M) effective concentration of active material in the reservoirs while preventing crossover of that material. The relatively low concentration of soluble mediators (15 mM) eliminates the need for high-solubility molecules to create high energy density batteries. Nernstian redox exchange between the beads and redox-matched mediators was fast relative to the cycle time of the RMFB. This approach is generalizable to many different redox-active moieties via attachment to the versatile Merrifield resin.     

Fast immobilization of probe beads by dielectrophoresis-controlled adhesion in a versatile microfluidic platform for affinity assay

The use of probe beads for lab-on-chip affinity assays is very interesting from a practical point of view. It is easier to handle and trap beads than molecules in microfluidic systems. We present a method for the immobilization of probe beads at defined areas on a chip using dielectrophoresis (DEP)-controlled adhesion. The method is fast, i.e., it takes between 10 and 120 s--depending on the protocol--to functionalize a chip surface at defined areas. The method is versatile, i.e., it works for beads with different types of probe molecule coatings. The immobilization is irreversible, i.e., the retained beads are able to withstand high flow velocities in a flow-through device even after the DEP voltage is turned off, thus allowing the use of conventional high-conductivity analyte buffers in the following assay procedure. We demonstrate the on-chip immobilization of fluorescent beads coated with biotin, protein A, and goat-antimouse immunoglobulin G (IgG). The number of immobilized beads at an electrode array can be determined from their fluorescence signal. Further, we use this method to demonstrate the detection of streptavidin and mouse IgG. Finally, we demonstrate the feasibility of the parallel detection of different analyte molecules on the same chip.     

Surface-modified polystyrene beads as photografting imprinted polymer matrix for chromatographic separation of proteins

A new and facile fabricating method for lysozyme molecularly imprinted polymer beads (lysozyme-MIP beads) in aqueous media was presented. Mesoporous chloromethylated polystyrene beads (MCP beads) containing dithiocarbamate iniferter (initiator transfer agent terminator) were used as supports for the grafting of lysozyme imprinted copolymers with acrylamide and N,N′-methylenebisacrylamide through surface initiated living-radical polymerization (SIP). After the polymerization, a layer of lysozyme-MIP was formed on the MCP beads. The SIP allowed an efficient control of the grafting process and suppressed solution propagation. Therefore, the obtained lysozyme-MIP beads had a large quantity of well-distributed pores on the surface without any visible gel formation in solution and were more advantageous comparing with traditional MIPs which were prepared by traditionally initiated radical polymerization. The obtained composites were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, elemental analysis, nitrogen sorption analysis and scanning electron microscopy. Chromatographic behaviors of the column packed with lysozyme-MIP beads exhibited ability in separating lysozyme from competitive protein (bovine hemoglobin, bovine serum albumin, ovalbumin or cytochrome c) in aqueous mobile phase.     

Automated sample preparation method for suspension arrays using renewable surface separations with multiplexed flow cytometry fluorescence detection

In this paper, we describe a new method of automated sample preparation for multiplexed biological analysis systems that use flow cytometry fluorescence detection. In this approach, color-encoded microspheres derivatized to capture particular biomolecules are temporarily trapped in a renewable surface separation column to enable perfusion with sample and reagents prior to delivery to the detector. This method provides for separation of the biomolecules of interest from other sample matrix components as well as from labeling solutions. After sample preparation, the beads can be released from the renewable surface column and delivered to a flow cytometer for direct on-bead analysis one bead at a time. Using mixtures of color-encoded beads derivatized for various analytes yields suspension arrays for multiplexed analysis. Development of this approach required a new technique for automated capture and release of the color-encoded microspheres within a fluidic system. We developed a method for forming a renewable filter and demonstrate its use for capturing microspheres that are too small to be easily captured in previous flow cells for renewable separation columns. The renewable filter is created by first trapping larger beads in the flow cell, and then smaller beads are captured either within or on top of the bed of larger beads. Both the selective microspheres and filter bed are automatically emplaced and discarded for each sample. A renewable filter created with 19.9 μm beads was used to trap 5.6 μm optically encoded beads with trapping efficiencies of 99%. The larger beads forming the renewable filter did not interfere with the detection of color-encoded 5.6 μm beads by the flow cytometer fluorescence detector. The use of this method was demonstrated with model reactions for a variety of bioanalytical assay types including a one-step capture of a biotinylated label on Lumavidin beads, a two-step sandwich immunoassay, and a one-step DNA binding assay. A preliminary demonstration of multiplexed detection of two analytes using color-encoded beads was also demonstrated. The renewable filter for creating separation columns containing optically encoded beads provides a general platform for coupling renewable surface methods for sample preparation and analyte labeling with flow cytometry detectors for suspension array multiplexed analyses.