Stability and Reusability of Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) Plates

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Abstract
Due to the concern of stripping immobilized enzymes and antibodies from microtiter plates by the washing process, enzymelinked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) has been traditionally run on single-use, disposable units. This paper discusses the concept of stabilized, reusable ELISA plates. Antibody immobilized microtiter plates with three different modified polystyrene immobilizing surfaces were stored in Dulbecco's phosphate buffered saline/1% BSA/0.1% Thimerosal (DBT) and DBT with 3% sucrose (DBTS) for one month at 4°C. After treatment with the chaotrope and storage in buffer, the plates can be reused up to 4 times with 90% or greater antigenic capacity remaining. High and low binding microtiter plates were studied for reusability with anti-rabbit IgG (aRIgG) as a primary antibody. In each case, the procedure allowed repeated use of the same antibody immobilized plates for ELISA without re-immobilizing the antibody or loss of antigenicity. Immobilized ELISA plates were stable for one month if stored in DBTS at 4°C.