Size-dependent tuning of magnetic metal‒organic frameworks enables high-performance immunochromatographic assays
摘要
To investigate the effect of carrier particle size on immunoassay detection performance, three magnetic metal‒organic frameworks (Fe₃O₄@MOF-545) with different particle sizes (300 nm, 400 nm, and 500 nm) were designed and prepared as antibody carriers, which were successfully conjugated with salbutamol antibodies to construct a series of detection probes. On this basis, a highly sensitive immunochromatographic assay (ICA) platform was established, and the influence of carrier particle size on detection performance was systematically explored. The results revealed that as the particle size of Fe₃O₄@MOF-545 increased, the probe affinity constant significantly increased (5.23 × 10⁷ to 7.39 × 10⁷), and the dissociation constant effectively decreased (1.27 × 10⁻⁸ to 0.83 × 10⁻⁸), indicating a significant increase in the antigen‒antibody binding capacity; the limit of detection was greatly reduced (0.33 μg/kg to 0.15 μg/kg), with sensitivity improved by more than 50%; the equilibrium time of immune kinetic reactions was shortened by 2 min, significantly accelerating the detection speed. These key data clearly reveal that carrier particle size is a core factor regulating ICA analytical performance. This work not only provides a new perspective on the interaction mechanism between nanocarriers and antibodies but also lays an important foundation for the design of next-generation high-performance immunoassay platforms with broad application prospects.