Enhancing the analytical performance of immunoassays that employ metal-enhanced fluorescence.

In this work, we used a model assay system (polyclonal human IgG-goat antihuman IgG) to elucidate some of the key factors that influence the analytical performance of bioassays that employ metal-enhanced fluorescence (MEF) using silver nanoparticles (NPs). Cy5 dye was used as the fluorescent label, and results were compared with a standard assay performed in the absence of NPs. Two sizes of silver NPs were prepared with respective diameters of 60 +/- 10 and 149 +/- 16 nm.