A rapid highly-sensitive endotoxin detection system

This paper presents a rapid, highly-sensitive, and low-cost method of endotoxin quantification based on the use of stress-responsive magnetoelastic sensors, that monitor the gel formation (viscosity change) of the Limulus Amoebocyte Lysate (LAL) assay in response to endotoxin. Ribbon-like magnetoelastic sensors, 12.7 mm × 6 mm × 28 μm, were immersed in a LAL assay after mixing with test samples of variable endotoxin concentration, and the decrease in resonance amplitude of the sensor was recorded as a function of time. Experimental results show excellent correlation between endotoxin concentration and the maximum clot rate, determined by taking the minimum point of the first derivative of the amplitude–time curve, as well as the clotting-time, defined as the time that corresponds to the maximum clot rate. Using a LAL gel–clot assay with a sensitivity of 0.06 EU/ml (EU: endotoxin unit), the magnetoelastic sensor based technology can detect the presence of endotoxin at 0.0105 EU/ml in test requiring approximately 20 min. Unlike optical methods used for determining endotoxin concentration, the color of the test solution does not impact the magnetoelastic sensor measurement. Due to the small size of the sensor reader electronics and low cost, the magnetoelastic sensor based endotoxin detection system is ideally suited for wide-spread use in endotoxin screening for sepsis prevention.