Highly sensitive fluorescence sensing of zearalenone using a novel aptasensor based on upconverting nanoparticles

• An aptasensor based on UCNPs and MNPs was firstly applied for ZEN detection.
• The results of the proposed method agreed well with that of the ELISA method.
• LOD was 0.126 μg/kg for corn and 0.007 μg/L for beer, respectively.

A facile strategy was successfully developed for the detection of zearalenone (ZEN). In this assay, highly fluorescent upconversion nanoparticles were synthesized and conjugated with the complementary oligonucleotide of ZEN aptamer for use as signal probes. Magnetic nanoparticles immobilized with the ZEN aptamer were assigned as capture probes. The results exhibited that the linear correlation between the decreased luminescence intensity of the signal and the concentration of ZEN was very strong (R2 = 0.9957) in the range of 0.05–100 μg/L. In addition, the limit of detection of the proposed method (0.126 μg/kg for corn and 0.007 μg/L for beer) was significantly lower than the existing methods. Furthermore, the reliability of the competitive immunoassay format was validated by comparing the results determined in real food samples to those obtained from a commercially available method. Overall, the novel aptasensor have showed great potential for rapid and accurate ZEN determination.