Nanosilica based electrochemical biosensor: A novel approach for the detection of platelet-derived microparticles

Elevation of platelet-derived microparticles (PMPs) in blood plasma has a strong correlation with the pathogenesis of diseases like thrombosis, diabetes, cancer and considered as a potential biomarker. The article presents a novel method of fabrication of an electrochemical biosensor to detect PMPs in a blood using nanosilica. Electrochemically deposited thionine doped silica nanoparticles (Th@SiNPs) and horseradish peroxidase entrapped amine functionalized mesoporous silica nanoparticles (NH2-MSNs) were utilized for conjugation with antibodies recognizing active confirmation of platelet glycoprotein GPIIb/IIIa and P-selectin expressed on PMPs respectively. Cyclic voltammetric analysis showed a progressive increase in reduction peak current on PMPs binding with the fabricated electrode in the presence of peroxide. The response of the sensor was linear in the range from 490 to 4080 PMPs μL−1 and could detect PMPs with a detection limit of ∼96 PMPs μL−1. The developed sensor proved to be highly specific in identifying PMPs in plasma and offers highly biocompatible, label-free, cost-effective, ease of miniaturization, short analysis time and simple instrumentation for the detection of biomarkers for a variety of diseases. The novel sensor is expected to find widespread applications in clinical point-of-care testing