Optimization and imaging analysis of carbohydrate microarrays

Carbohydrates are vital to countless biological processes, but their diversity and structural and synthetic complexity necessitate the development of new investigative methods to rapidly examine a large variety of carbohydrate interactions. The microarray platform allows such high-throughput investigations, but is limited by the inconsistency of microarray fabrication, particularly the lack of control of carbohydrate density in printed spots. Addition of the anti-evaporative agents glycerol and dimethylformamide (DMF) failed to normalize printed carbohydrate density. Imaging the arrays with a combination of time-of-flight mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) and surface plasmon resonance (SPR) techniques effectively visualized both the chemical and biological activity of microarray surfaces, representing a new methodology for further microarray investigation.