Chemistry: molecular biology and microbiology – Measuring or testing process involving enzymes or... – Involving antigen-antibody binding – specific binding protein...
Patent
1996-10-11
1998-11-10
Chin, Christopher L.
Chemistry: molecular biology and microbiology
Measuring or testing process involving enzymes or...
Involving antigen-antibody binding, specific binding protein...
385 12, 385129, 385130, 422 55, 422 8205, 422 8208, 422 8209, 422 8211, 4352871, 4352872, 4352887, 435808, 435973, 436464, 436465, 436518, 436524, 436527, 436172, 436805, 436809, G01N 33552, G01N 33569
Patent
active
058342184
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention is that of molecular sensors capable of recognizing molecules specifically and of detecting them in very low concentrations.
2. Discussion of the Background
Sensors of this type are found to be particularly advantageous in fields as varied as the detection and identification of war gases, of diverse pollution, of narcotics, of perfume, etc., when what is being investigated is the presence of specific molecules, regardless of whether their architecture is simple or particularly sophisticated.
The characteristics of such sensors are chiefly the ability to recognize a type of molecule and the possibility of amplifying this molecular recognition so as to detect information that is sufficient to be capable of being utilized.
At the present time there are already sensors operating on the use of antibodies (for specific recognition) and of enzyme amplification processes for the transmission of information.
To give an example, some tests for tracking down molecules operate according to the following principle:
A specific antibody (AB.sub.1) for the molecule to be detected is bound onto a membrane; the combination is immersed in a solution containing molecules to be detected (J), permitting the pairing of the antibody (AB.sub.1) and of the molecule (J), the pairing being performed at a specific place in the said molecule. In a second step the AB.sub.1 -(J) combination may be immersed in another solution containing another specific anti J antibody AB.sub.2 which itself may be bound to an enzyme. The structure described in FIG. 1 is then obtained. This molecular grouping can transform an entity S into product P, via the enzyme, at a rate depending on the catalytic power of the enzyme. The enzyme amplification thus obtained enables a detectable quantity of product P to be produced even when the molecules to be sensed are in very low concentrations. Typically, an acidity, a basicity, a colour or any other physicochemical phenomenon can be revealed.
In this type of process two major disadvantages continue to exist in the case of the applications aimed at in the present patent application. In fact, this process is limited to detection in solution; moreover, it needs to be carried out in two steps.
To envisage the concept of biochemical sensors which are selective and capable of detecting very low concentrations of a molecule in an ambient medium, one scheme consists in employing an interface between the external medium and a reaction medium which is connected to a detector, this interface including various sites for capturing the targeted molecules and the enzyme amplification being conducted within the reaction medium.
The various capture sites must be capable of triggering the enzyme amplification process as soon as they have captured the molecules which it is intended to detect. They must therefore fulfil the following two functions: to capture selectively one type of molecules and to transmit the information of this capture to a reaction medium which generates for it, by enzyme amplification, a signal which is sufficient to the detector (transducer of chemical information into physical information).
To ensure these different functions, living cell environments have available transmembrane receptors incorporated within a membrane consisting of phospholipids. These transmembrane receptors consist of transverse members (typically proteins organized into a helix) joined together by molecular bridges, like those illustrated in FIGS. 2a and 2b. On each side of the membrane this combination produces a reception site whose steric form depends on the molecular bridges and on the relative position of the transverse members permitting, on the external medium side, the capture of one type of molecule (M) for which the transmembrane receptor is adapted, and transmitting the deformation associated with the capture into the reaction medium. This distortion at the site s.sub.1 is capable of triggering within the cell medium a whole process of reactions
REFERENCES:
patent: 3510806 (1970-05-01), Gremillet
patent: 4931384 (1990-06-01), Layton et al.
patent: 4935345 (1990-06-01), Guilbeau et al.
patent: 5175597 (1992-12-01), Cachier et al.
patent: 5478527 (1995-12-01), Gustafson et al.
"Thomson-CSF"
Chin Christopher L.
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