Amplified amperometric aptasensor for selective detection of protein using catalase-functional DNA–PtNPs dendrimer as a synergetic signal amplification label

• Use of nanocalse enzyme-functional DNA–PtNPs dendrimer leads to load numerous RuHex redox tags and catalase, which in turn results in substantial signal amplification.
• With the synergetic catalysis of catalase and PtNPs, amplified electrochemistry signal could be obtained.
• Reduced graphene oxide as nanocarrier enhanced the surface area and facilitated electron transfer from RuHex to the electrode, thus amplifying the detection response.
• The aptsensor exhibits high sensitivity, good stability and satisfying selectivity.

In this work, we present a new strategy to construct an electrochemical aptasensor for sensitive detection of platelet-derived growth factor BB (PDGF-BB) based on the synergetic amplification of a three-dimensional (3D) nanoscale catalase (CAT) enzyme-functional DNA–platinum nanoparticles (PtNPs) dendrimer through autonomous layer-by-layer assembly. Firstly, polyamidoaminedendrimer (PAMAM) with a hyper-branched and three-dimensional structure was served as nanocarriers to coimmobilize a large number of PDGF-BB binding aptamer (PBA II) and ssDNA 1 (S1) to form PBA II–PAMAM–S1 bioconjugate. In the presence of PDGF-BB, the bioconjugate was self-assembled on the electrode by sandwich assay. Following that, the carried S1 propagated a chain reaction of hybridization events between CAT–PtNPs–S1 and CAT–PtNPs–ssDNA 2 (S2) to form a 3D nanoscale CAT-functional PtNPs-DNA dendrimer, which successfully immobilized substantial CAT enzyme and PtNPs with superior catalysis activity. In this process, the formed negatively charged double-helix DNA could cause the intercalation of hexaammineruthenium(III) chloride (RuHex) into the groove via electrostatic interactions. Thus, numerous RuHex redox probes and CAT were decorated inside/outside of the dendrimer. In the presence of H2O2 in electrolytic cell, the synergistic reaction of CAT and PtNPs towards electrocatalysis could further amplify electrochemical signal. Under optimal condition, the CAT–PtNPs–DNA dendrimer-based sensing system presented a linear dependence between the reduction peak currents and logarithm of PDGF-BB concentrations in the range of 0.00005–35 nM with a relatively low detection limit of 0.02 pM.