Signal amplification architecture for electrochemical aptasensor based on network-like thiocyanuric acid/gold nanoparticle/ssDNA

In this work, we described signal amplification architecture for electronic aptamer-based sensor (E-AB), which is applicable to a wide range of aptamers. Herein, we only take lysozyme as the representative sensing target. The amplification method was based on the network of thiocyanuric acid (TCA)/gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) modified with ssDNA. The binding event can be detected by a decrease in the integrated charge of the surface-bound [Ru(NH3)6]3+ which electrostatically absorbed onto the negatively charged phosphate backbones of DNA. In the presence of target molecules, a large amount of TCA/AuNP/ssDNA network associated with [Ru(NH3)6]3+ would be removed from the electrode surface, leading to a significant decrease of redox current. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) signals of [Ru(NH3)6]3+ provides quantitative measures of the concentrations of lysozyme, with a linear calibration ranging from 5 pM to 1 nM and a detection limit is 0.1 pM. The detection limit of the proposed sensor is one order of magnitude and three orders of magnitude more sensitive than the detection limits in the absence of TCA (5 pM) and in the absence of TCA/AuNP/ssDNA network (0.5 nM). This amplification method is promising for broad potential application in clinic assay and various protein analysis.

► This paper presents a signal amplification method for any electrochemical aptasensors.
► The amplification approach is based on thiocyanuric acid-gold nanoparticles network.
► Such an aptasensor opens a rapid, selective and sensitive route for clinical assay.