Long term response of a Concanavalin-A based fluorescence glucose sensing assay

Competitive binding assays comprised of the protein Concanavalin A (ConA) have shown potential for use in continuous glucose monitoring devices. However, its time-dependent, thermal instability can impact the lifetime of these ConA based assays. In an attempt to design sensors with longer in vivo lifetimes, different groups have immobilized the protein to various surfaces. For example, Ballerstadt et al. have shown that immobilizing ConA onto the interior of a micro-dialysis membrane and allowing dextran to be freely suspended within solution allowed for successful in vivo glucose sensing up to 16 days. This work explores the glucose response of an assay comprised of modified ConA and a single fluorescently labeled competing ligand in free solution to increase the in vivo sensing lifetime without immobilization,. The behavior of this assay in the presence of varying glucose concentrations is monitored via fluorescence anisotropy over a 30 day period.