Chromium functionalized diglyme plasma polymer coating enhances enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay performance

Ensuring the optimum orientation, conformation, and density of substrate-bound antibodies is critical for the success of sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs). In this work, the authors utilize a diethylene glycol dimethyl ether plasma polymer (DGpp) coating, functionalized with chromium within a 96 well plate for the enhanced immobilization of a capture antibody. For an equivalent amount of bound antibody, a tenfold improvement in the ELISA signal intensity is obtained on the DGpp after incubation with chromium, indicative of improved orientation on this surface. Time-of-flight secondary-ion-mass-spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) and principal component analysis were used to probe the molecular species at the surface and showed ion fragments related to lysine, methionine, histidine, and arginine coupled to chromium indicating candidate antibody binding sites. A combined x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and ToF-SIMS analysis provided a surface molecular characterization that demonstrates antibody binding via the chromium complex. The DGpp+Cr surface treatment holds great promise for improving the efficacy of ELISAs. (C) 2016 American Vacuum Society.