Antigen Detection via the Rate of Ion Current Rectification Change of the Antibody-Modified Glass Nanopore Membrane

Ion current rectification (ICR), defined as an increase in ion conduction at a given polarity and a decrease in ion conduction for the same voltage at the opposite polarity, i.e., a deviation from a linear ohmic response, occurs in conical shaped pores due to the voltage dependent solution conductivity within the aperture. The degree to which the ionic current rectifies is a function of the size and surface charge of the nanopore, with smaller and more highly charged pores exhibiting greater degrees of rectification. The ICR phenomenon has previously been exploited for biosensing applications, where the level of ICR for a nanopore functionalized with an analyte-specific binding molecule (e.g., an antibody, biotin, etc.) changes upon binding its target analyte (e.g., an antigen, streptavidin, etc.) due to a resulting change in the size and/or charge of the aperture. While this type of detection measurement is typically qualitative, for the first time, we demonstrate that the rate at which the nanopore ICR response changes is dependent on the concentration of the target analyte introduced. Utilizing a glass nanopore membrane (GNM) internally coated with a monoclonal antibody specific to the cleaved form of synaptosomal-associated protein 25 (cSNAP-25), creating the antibody-modified glass nanopore membrane (AMGNM), we demonstrate a correlation between the rate of ICR change and the concentration of introduced cSNAP-25, over a range of 500 nM-100 μM. The methodology presented here significantly expands the applications of nanopore ICR biosensing measurements and demonstrates that these measurements can be quantitative in nature.