Detection of molecules and cells using nuclear magnetic resonance with magnetic nanoparticles

For the detection of small molecules, proteins or even cells in vitro, functionalised magnetic nanoparticles and nuclear magnetic resonance measurements can be applied. In this work, magnetic nanoparticles with the size of 5-7 nm were functionalised with antibodies to detect two model systems of different sizes, the protein avidin and Saccharomyces cerevisiae as the model organism. The synthesised magnetic nanoparticles showed a narrow size distribution, which was determined using transmission electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering. The magnetic nanoparticles were functionalised with the according antibodies via EDC/NHS chemistry. The binding of the antigen to magnetic nanoparticles was detected through the change in the NMR T₂ relaxation time at 0.5 T (≈21.7 MHz). In case of a specific binding the particles cluster and the T₂ relaxation time of the sample changes. The detection limit in buffer for FITC-avidin was determined to be 1.35 nM and 10⁷ cells/ml for S. cerevisiae. For fluorescent microscopy the avidin molecules were labelled with FITC and for the detection of S. cerevisiae the magnetic nanoparticles were additionally functionalised with rhodamine. The binding of the particles to S. cerevisiae and the resulting clustering was also seen by transmission electron microscopy.