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A bifunctional electrochemical aptasensor based on AuNPs-coated ERGO nanosheets for sensitive detection of adenosine and thrombin

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Abstract

A simple and sensitive bifunctional electrochemical aptasensor for detection of adenosine and thrombin has been developed using gold nanoparticles–electrochemically reduced graphene oxide (AuNPs-ERGO) composite film-modified electrode. Firstly, the reduced graphene oxide film and AuNPs were sequentially immobilized on glassy carbon electrode (GCE) surface. Secondly, thrombin aptamer was immobilized on the modified electrode. Finally, adenosine aptamer was hybridized with it to serve as a recognition element and methylene blue (MB) as electrochemical signal indicator. In the presence of adenosine or thrombin, the sensor recognized it and a conformational change was induced in aptamer, resulting in decrease of the peak current of MB. The linear relation between concentration of adenosine or thrombin and peak current of MB allowed quantification of them. Thanks to the special electronic characteristic of AuNPs-ERGO composite film, sensitivity of sensor was greatly improved. Under optimal conditions, the proposed aptasensor presented an excellent performance in a linear range of 25 nM to 750 nM for adenosine and 0.5 nM to 10 nM for thrombin. Detection limits were estimated to be 8.3 nM for adenosine and 0.17 nM for thrombin, respectively. Moreover, dual-analyte detection of adenosine and thrombin was achieved without potentially increasing the complexity and cost of the assay.

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Funding

This study is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21778041).

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Author notes

  1. Hongmei Yang and Peiyu Hu contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Combinatorial Biosynthesis and Drug Discovery, Ministry of Education, Hubei Province Engineering and Technology Research Center for Fluorinated Pharmaceuticals, Wuhan University School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Wuhan, 430071, China

    Hongmei Yang, Peiyu Hu, Jing Tang, Ying Cheng, Fang Wang & Zilin Chen

  2. State Key Laboratory of Transducer Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100080, China

    Hongmei Yang, Peiyu Hu, Fang Wang & Zilin Chen

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  1. Hongmei Yang
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  2. Peiyu Hu
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  5. Fang Wang
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Correspondence to Fang Wang or Zilin Chen.

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Yang, H., Hu, P., Tang, J. et al. A bifunctional electrochemical aptasensor based on AuNPs-coated ERGO nanosheets for sensitive detection of adenosine and thrombin. J Solid State Electrochem 25, 1383–1391 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-021-04916-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-021-04916-y

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