Improvement of a High-Gradient Magnetic Separation System for Trapping Immunoglobulin in Serum

Recently, affinity magnetic beads have been widely used in immunomagnetic cell sorting (IMCS) technology. Today, we can easily sort and analyse DNA and antibodies (immunoglobulin) using various types of affinity magnetic beads available in the market. The diameters of the affinity magnetic beads used in immunomagnetic cell sorting are above approximately 1 ??m because of the low magnetic fields induced by permanent magnets. At present, nanosized affinity magnetic beads are strongly desired to achieve high resolutions. We have been studying and attempting to develop a high-gradient magnetic separation (HGMS) system that employs a superconducting magnet to induce a considerably higher magnetic field than that induced by a permanent magnet. The objective is to trap smaller nanosized affinity magnetic beads using a filter made of fine stainless steel wool. In a previous study, we constructed a prototype of a desktop-type HGMS system using a cryocooler-cooled LTS magnet; we conducted preliminary experiments on trapping nanosized magnetic particles and investigated the magnetic field distribution and magnetic force around a magnetic wire in the filter by means of a numerical simulation. In this study, we succeeded in producing prototype nanobeads covered with the biosurfactant of a high-affinity ligand system for immunoglobulin G and M. Furthermore, we attempted to improve the recovery of nanobeads by adding a resonance circuit to the HGMS system. In practice, the trapped nanobeads attract one another and agglomerate due to their remaining magnetization when the magnetic field is decreased to 0 T. Therefore, the nanobeads and wire are demagnetized in the AC magnetic field by the resonance circuit, making good use of the superconducting magnet of the HGMS system.