Surface engineering of solid supports; Cellulose, Nitrocellulose and Nylon to increase the efficiency of antibody immobilization in diagnostic systems

Immobilization of antibodies is a critical stage for design and manufacturing of sensitive biological sensors. In this study, in order to increase the capacity of antibody capturing by the supports, different materials and polymer layers such as Cyanogen bromide, Acetonitrile, PEI and MAMEC were used for processing the surface of Cellulose, Nitrocellulose and Nylon, respectively. Increasing the surface charges in nitrocellulose and creating new active groups on the surfaces of activated nylon and cellulose were the most important chemical modifications on the mentioned solid supports. Assessment of immobilized antibody showed that the chemical modifications applied on the surface of supports have had significant effects on increasing their capacity to accept antibody, compared to control samples. Efficient immobilization of antibody on the supports can increase the sensitivity of immunochromatographic-based diagnostic systems. Immobilization processes can alter the physiochemical features of supports such as their capillarity, flexibility, surface charges, delicacy etc. which may intensively influence the quality of immobilization.