Allergies & Piezo Sensors

As many of you, I have been suffering of allergies, something very common for this time of the year.  It came to my mind to search about how piezodevices have helped in the fight of allergies.

Let start understanding what exactly are allergies.  I found a good definition for allergy in WebMD Allergies Health Center. A basic definition is “Allergies are an abnormal response of the immune system.  People who have allergies have an immune system that reacts to a usually harmless substance in the environment”[5].  Some of the most common substances are pollen, mold, animal’s hair; these substances are called allergens.

Inside our bodies, allergens’ story is more interesting.  In the presence of an allergy, we experience a changed of reactivity of our immune system.  This scenario causes the rise of Immunoglobulin E (IgE) an allergen-specific serum[4] .  The IgE molecules act as points of contact between the allergen and mast cells that release histamine and other agents upon exposure.  This initiates the events recognized as allergic reactions.  The rapid detection of IgE is very important when dealing with patients with an allergy, after a clinical evaluation based on patient's history and other testing, can help a physician confirm a diagnosis of atopic allergy and assist in the treatment of the patient[1].

If you want to know more about allergies and its relation with IgE, click here.

Now that we know a little more about allergies and IgE is time to know how piezodevices related these two things.  One of the approaches to test IgE uses piezoelectric crystals in which the anti-IgE antibody immobilized a gold or silver-coated crystal that serves as the receptor layer[2].  Let me explain a more, the anti-human IgE is deposited on the surface of the10 M Hz AT-cut gold coated crystal resonator by self-assembled technique, and serves as a receptor layer. The highly ordered self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) ensure well-controlled surface structure and offer many advantages to the performance of the sensor [3].

The piezo sensor can quantitatively detect human serum IgE in the range of 5-300 IU/ml with high precision (CV < 8%). The results are better than those given by two commercially provided test kits (Total IgE FAST Test, Pharmacia-CAP). The correlation coefficients are 0.94 between FAST and piezo sensor, and 0.90 between CAP and piezo sensor, respectively.  The uses of modified silver crystals increase the sensitivity, which brought better agreement[4].

The coated crystal can be reused after regeneration with urea and glycine buffer.  The coated crystal can be reused five times without appreciable loss of activity. This characteristic of regeneration for reused helps in the reduction of cost.

As we can see, piezo sensors are use to determine the IgE levels.  In addition, the results of test realize with the sensor are better than commercial test kits (FAST, Pharmacia-CAP).  At the same time, this approach for testing offers an economic factor to the laboratory performing the test.

References

[1]Important issues for allergen-specific IgE testing. Retrieved 5/9/2010, 2010, from http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/Safety/AlertsandNotices/TipsandArticlesonDeviceSafety/ucm109367.htm

[2]Papamichael, K. I., Kreuzer, M. P., & Guilbault, G. G. (2007). Viability of allergy (IgE) detection using an alternative aptamer receptor and electrochemical means. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 121(1), 178-186.

[3]Su, X., Chew, F. T., & Li, S. F. (1999). Self-assembled monolayer-based piezoelectric crystal immunosensor for the quantification of total human immunoglobulin E. Analytical Biochemistry, 273(1), 66-72.

[4]Su, X., Chew, F. T., & Li, S. F. Y. (2000). Piezoelectric quartz crystal based label-free analysis for allergy disease. Biosensors and Bioelectronics, 15(11-12), 629-639.

[5]WebMD allergies health center - find allergy information and latest health news. Retrieved 5/10/2010, 2010, from http://www.webmd.com/allergies/default.htm

What is Piezo Surgery?

I found this video that helps to understand, from the point of view of a physician, the benefits of Piezosurgery in general.  Dr.  Brock Lynn explains in a basic way how he uses piezosurgery in dental treatments, and what he considers its benefits.

Dr. Lynn received his DDS at Baylor College of Dentistry in 1980. He also completed his specialty training in Periodontics at Baylor in 1989, and is Board Certified in the specialty of Periodontics. He presented and published his master thesis and earned a Master of Science Degree in 1990 from Baylor.

As an active member of the Dallas County Dental Society, Dr. Lynn has served on the Society's peer-review/patient relations committee. He also holds membership in the Texas Dental Association, The American Academy of Periodontology, is a Fellow in the Academy of General Dentistry, and a member of the American Academy of Restorative Dentistry.