A simple fluorescence quenching method for the quantitation in serum of an acute phase reactant, C-reactive protein (CRP), which can differentiate between viral and bacterial infections, is described, where material and reagent costs are minimal. The study harnesses a fluorescence quenching between a nonfluorescent polyelectrolyte containing a ligand (O-phosphorylethanolamine, PEA) and fluorophore (fluorescamine Isomer 1) containing polyelectrolyte. The quenching was attributed due to strong polymerpolymer interaction through intermolecular hydrogen bonding. The nonlinear behaviour of Stern-Volmer plot indicates a binding induced quenching, that is, static quenching. However, fluorescence was found to increase in presence of C-reactive protein, due to the specific molecular recognition occurring between CRP and PEA, thereby excluding fluorophore containing chain. A definite correlation was found between concentration of CRP and fluorescence intensity and the method exhibited a linear relationship in the range of 40-360 ng/mL with a detection limit of 30 ± 2 ng/mL. The antibody free method was successfully applied for the analysis of CRP in human serum samples and the method showed good correlation with hospital measurements ( = 1.0313 −0.1423; = 32; = 0.9998, < 0.0001). Thus the fluorescence based polyelectrolyte biosensor is a potential system for rapid, and antibody free platform for CRP detection.
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