Quartz-crystal microbalance immunosensor for Schistsoma-japonicum-infected rabbit serum.

A quartz-crystal microbalance immunosensor (QCM) has been developed for the direct determination of Schistosoma-japonicum-infected rabbit serum. A self-assembled monolayer with carboxyl groups was first coated on a gold electrode of a quartz-crystal resonator by the spontaneous adsorption of 3-mercaptopropionic acid. Schistosoma-japonicum molecular antigen of 32 kD molecular weight was then covalently attached to the crystal surface. The QCM immunosensor was used to detect infected rabbit serum (IRS49-2000); a maximum titer of 1:800 was achieved.