Direct patterning of probe proteins on an antifouling PLL-g-dextran coating for reducing the background signal of fluorescent immunoassays

The limit of detection of advanced immunoassays, biochips and micro/nano biodetection devices is impacted by the non-specific adsorption of target molecules at the sample surface. In this paper, we present a simple and versatile low cost method for generating active surfaces composed of antibodies arrays surrounded by an efficient anti-fouling layer, capable to decrease drastically the fluorescence background signal obtained after interaction with a solution to be analyzed. The technological process involves the direct micro-contact printing of the antibodies probe molecules on a pre-coated PLL-g-dextran thin layer obtained by contact printing using a flat PDMS stamp. Compared to other blocking strategies (ethanolamine blocking treatment, PLL-g-PEG incubation, PLL-g-dextran incubation, printing on a plasma-deposited PEO layer), our surface chemistry method is more efficient for reducing non-specific interactions responsible for a degraded signal/noise ratio.