Purpose: The purpose of this research was to develop a sensitive and cost-effective MSP biosensor for on-site quantitatively monitoring Campylobacter to improve the efficacy of HAACP plans.
Methods: The sensors were coated with silica through the treatment of tetraethoxyslane and gold coated by direct sputtering. Anti-Campylobacter jejuni antibodies were immobilized on both coated sensors and the immobilization efficiency was measured by ELISA. The performance of MSP biosensors were tested in the inoculated phosphate buffer and poultry processed water.
Results: MSP sensors with the size of 1.0 mm × 0.2 mm × 0.025 mm were fabricated and coated with one layer of 100 nm gold or 30 nm silica, respectively. Both sensors were immobilized with anti-Campylobacter rabbit IgG. Based on the ELISA test, the silica coated sensors have higher antibody immobilization efficiency (O.D. 405 nm=1.4240) than the gold coated sensors (O.D. 405 nm=1.0114). The silica coated biosensor has higher binding efficiency to Campylobacter jejuni than those coated with gold. The detection limits for both biosensors were around 102-103 CFU/ml.
Significance: The results have shown that the MSP biosensor has low detection limits for Campylobacter jejuni. There is a high potential to develop a low-cost, high sensitivity handheld device of MSP biosensor for application in the poultry processing plants to monitor the Campylobacter population increasing the control efficacy.