Quantitative detection of magnetic particles in a chromatographic membrane by a giant magnetoresistance sensor

Abstract

We used streptavidin-coated magnetic particles (Dynabeads (R) M-280) for an immunochromatographic test, instead of colloidal gold particles, which was widely used in a conventional technique. The concentration of magnetic particles in a membrane was quantitatively analyzed by using a giant magnetoresistance (GMR) sensor with a sensitivity of 0.17%/Oe. As a specific zone with a localized concentration of the magnetic particles passed through a GMR sensor, it was observed that the magnitude of sensing signals is proportional to the density of magnetic particles. Therefore, this result suggests that a GMR sensor, which was studied in this paper, can be used for the quantitative detection with a high sensitivity of specific analytes in the immunochromatographic assays, when the analytes were coated on magnetic particles. (C) 2009 American Institute of Physics. [DOI: 10.1063/1.3075868]