Piezoelectric polymer biosensors

The Supported red blood cell membrane (SRBCm) was developed on a piezoelectric sensor to study the attachment of nanoparticles to erythrocyte surfaces. A well-dispersed colloidal suspension of fragments of RBCm was prepared from whole blood, and characterized thoroughly using cryogenic transmission electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering, and zeta potential analysis. To develop SRBCm, RBCm fragments were immobilized onthe sensor in a quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring system. A complete monolayer of flattened fragments of RBCm was formed on the positively charged surface of the piezoelectric sensor in 1 mM NaCl and 0.2 mM NaHCO3 at pH 7.1. The surface morphology of SRBCm was characterized via atomic force microscopy. The even distribution of surface proteins expressed on erythrocytes was found on SRBCm through indirect immunofluorescence microscopy. The attachment efficiencies of model nanoparticles, e.g. hematite nanoparticles and carboxylated polystyrene nanoparticles, on the SRBCm were quantified using a classic methodology.
KEYWORDS: Supported erythrocyte membrane, piezoelectric sensor, phospholipid bilayers, nanoparticles