LAUSR

Diagnosis of fungal infection in lung parenchyma is relatively difficult. Bronchoscopy with bronchoalveolar lavage is very useful in its diagnosing. Therefore, a method for rapid on-line concentration and analysis of Aspergillus conidia in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid using combination of transient isotachophoresis (tITP) and micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) with subsequent off-line identification of the separated conidia by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) is described in this study. In the proposed procedure, conidia were first dynamically adhered onto the roughened part of the inner surface of fused silica capillary prepared by etching with supercritical water. Then the adhered conidia were desorbed, concentrated, and separated using combination of tITP and MEKC. Finally, the fractions containing the separated conidia were collected from the capillary and analyzed by MALDI-TOF MS. Adhesion efficiency under the optimized experimental conditions was about 80 %. This rapid diagnosis will contribute to timely initiation of therapy and increase the patient's chances of survival.