IgG/anti-IgG immunoassay based on a turn-around point long period grating

Long period fiber gratings (LPFGs) have been proposed as label-free optical biosensor for a few years. Refractive index changes, which modify the fiber transmission spectrum, are still used for evaluating a biochemical interaction that occurs along the grating region. A turn-around point (TAP) LPFG was manufactured for enhancing the refractive index sensitivity of these devices. Considering the simplicity and the fast process with respect to the silanization procedure, the functionalization of the fiber was carried out by Eudragit L100 copolymer. An IgG/anti-IgG immunoassay was implemented for studying the antigen/antibody interaction. A limit of detection lower than 100 mu g L-1 was achieved. Based on the same model assay, we compared the resonance wavelength shifts during the injection of 10 mg L-1 anti-IgG antigen between the TAP LPFG and a standard non-TAP one, in which the coupling occurs with a lower order cladding mode, as performance improvement of the LPFG-based biosensors.