Quartz Crystal Microbalance monitoring the real-time binding of lectin with carbohydrate with high and low molecular mass

A Quartz Crystal Microbalance (QCM) was used to monitor the mass changes on a quartz crystal surface containing immobilized lectins that interacted with carbohydrates. The strategy for lectin immobilization was developed on the basis of a multilayer system composed of Au–cystamine–glutaraldehyde–lectin. Each step of the immobilization procedure was confirmed by FTIR analysis. The system was used to study the interactions of Concanavalin A (ConA) with maltose and Jacalin with Fetuin. The real-time binding of different concentrations of carbohydrate to the immobilized lectin was monitored by means of QCM measurements and the data obtained allowed for the construction of Langmuir isotherm curves. The association constants determined for the specific interactions analyzed here were (6.4 ± 0.2) × 104 M− 1 for Jacalin–Fetuin and (4.5 ± 0.1) × 102 M− 1 for ConA–maltose. These results indicate that the QCM constitutes a suitable method for the analysis of lectin–carbohydrate interactions, even when assaying low molecular mass ligands such as disaccharides.