A Fracatal Analysis of Analyte-Receptor Binding and Dissociation Kinetics in Microcantilever Biosensors

Melissa J. English, Anand Ramakrishnan and Ajit Sadana ( cmsadana-AT-olemiss-DOT-edu.gif )
Chemical Engineering Department, University of Mississippi, P.O. Box 1848, University, MS 38677, USA

A fractal analysis which takes into account the affect of surface heterogeneity on the biosensor surface is presented. The fractal analysis is of a confirmative nature only and it is presented for the binding and dissociation (where ever it is applicable) for (i) Chromate ion in solution to a SAM coated microcantilever surface (Ji et al., 2001) and (ii) two hybridization reactions occurring on microcantilever surfaces (Fritz et al., 2000 and Hansen et al., 2001). The heterogeneity on the microcantilever surface is mainly due to either (i)the nature of the surface, (ii) nature of the immobilizing ligand or (iii)the immobilization method. The data taken from the literacture can be modeled using a single- or a dual-fractal analysis where ever appropriate. Predictive relationships were also developed for the binding rate coefficient as a function of the fractal dimension and analyte concentration in solution. The binding and the dissociation rate coefficients are very sensitive to the degree of heterogeneity that exists on the microcantilever surface. For the reactions analyzed the binding and the dissociation rate coefficients increase with an increase in the degree of heterogeneity on the microcantilever surface. For one of the hybridization reactions analyzed (Hansen et al., 2001) the binding rate coefficient increases with the number of bases (25-mer and 9-mer) present in the oligomer (analyte) in solution. The analysis should assist in placing the analyte-receptor reactions occurring on microcantilever systems on a kinetic basis. Keywords: microcantilevers, binding, dissociation, kinetics, fractals