An immunosensor assay for the quantitation of intracellular recombinant human superoxide dismutase (rhSOD) in Escherichia coli cultivations based on detection with surface plasmon resoance (SPR) is described. A monoclonal antibody for rhSOD was immobilized on a SPR dextran gold chip. Bacterial samples were sonicated and centrifugated prior to injection over the antibody chip for SPR detection. The assay time was 7min and allowed quantitation in the range of 1-64nM SOD in lysate samples with a precision of 1.1-3.4%. The assay was applied to monitor the concentration of rhSOD during E. coli bioreactor cultivations where the rhSOD production was induced by iso-propyl-b-D-thiogalactoside (IPTG). The assay allowed accurate monitoring of the production of rhSOD where the important phases in the product formation were possible to see. The report also discusses influence from sample preparation, SPR selectivity and sensitivity and quantitation limits. The assay proved to be fast, sensitive and accurate with low background effects from the dextran matrix of the SPR chip. ⌐ 2002 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.