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A fiber optic nanoplasmonic biosensor for the sensitive detection of ampicillin and its analogs

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Abstract

A novel optical immunosensor for the screening of ampicillin (Amp) residues has been developed. The biosensor is based on fiber optic particle plasmon resonance detection and uses an enhancement method called as fiber optic nanogold-linked immunosorbent assay (FONLISA) for the sensitive detection of antibiotics. A commercial antibody which had a higher affinity for ampicillin than for other β-lactam antibiotics was chosen. A surface competitive binding assay was used in which a fixed concentration of antibiotic-conjugated gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) competes with free unlabeled antibiotic molecules to measure the amount of binding with antibody molecules immobilized on an optical fiber. The synthesis of the 11-mercaptoundecanoic acid (MUA)-ampicillin conjugate facilitates the attachment of the Amp molecules to AuNPs via MUA which acts as a linker between them. This AuNP–Amp conjugate was then used for the detection of β-lactam antibiotics. The practical limit of detection obtained for Amp was 0.74 ppb (7.4 × 10−10 g/mL) which is lower than the recommended maximum residue limit (MRL) for β-lactams. The method also shows a wide linear range of 4 orders. Its applicability to the determination of ampicillin in spiked milk samples has been demonstrated with good recovery and reproducibility.

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All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article and its supplementary material file.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Prof. Bor-Cherng Hong for helpful advice on the synthesis and characterization of Amp–MUA conjugate.

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan (Grant no. MOST 105-2113-M-194-009-MY3) and Center for Nano Bio-Detection from the Featured Research Areas College Development Plan of National Chung Cheng University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, National Chung Cheng University, Chiayi, 62102, Taiwan

    Pallavi P. Chaudhari, Lai-Kwan Chau & Yen-Ta Tseng

  2. Center for Nano Bio-Detection, National Chung Cheng University, Chiayi, 62102, Taiwan

    Lai-Kwan Chau

  3. Department of Biomedical Sciences & Engineering, National Central University, Jhong-Li, Taoyuan, 320, Taiwan

    Chun-Jen Huang

  4. Institute of Oral Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, 70101, Taiwan

    Yuh-Ling Chen

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  1. Pallavi P. Chaudhari
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  2. Lai-Kwan Chau
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  4. Chun-Jen Huang
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  5. Yuh-Ling Chen
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Contributions

Conceptualization, Lai-Kwan Chau; methodology, Lai-Kwan Chau and Yuh-Ling Chen; resources, Chun-Jen Huang; investigation, Pallavi Chaudhari and Yen-Ta Tseng; formal analysis, Pallavi Chaudhari, Lai-Kwan Chau, and Yen-Ta Tseng; writing - original draft, Pallavi Chaudhari; writing - review and editing, Lai-Kwan Chau; funding acquisition, Lai-Kwan Chau.

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Correspondence to Lai-Kwan Chau.

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Sensorgram of nonspecific adsorption test by direct assay, sensorgram and calibration graph by direct assay, TEM image and UV-vis spectra of the prepared AuNPs, FTIR spectra of Amp and the synthesized Amp-MUA conjugate, calibration graph for quantitation of IgG on fiber surface, and sensorgram for ampicillin detection at concentration near practical LOQ by FONLISA are provided as supplementary information.

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Chaudhari, P.P., Chau, LK., Tseng, YT. et al. A fiber optic nanoplasmonic biosensor for the sensitive detection of ampicillin and its analogs. Microchim Acta 187, 396 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-020-04381-w

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