What are some of the technological problems associated with gold sols?
The availability of lateral-flow assays continues to be severely restricted by the availability of reliable “gold conjugates,” i.e., gold particles that have been coated with the appropriate receptors. Without going into too much chemical detail, this availability problem stems from two issues; the chemistry involved in dressing the gold, and the problems associated with the scale-up of gold sols into reliable industrial products. A closely associated problem is the formulation of the eluant that carries the gold particles along the nitro-cellulose membrane in a manner that minimizes background noise and enhances the tell-tale gold reaction.
