A carbon nanotubes based ATP apta-sensing platform and its application in cellular assay

In this paper, a sensitive and selective fluorescent aptasensor for adenosine triphosphate (ATP) detection is constructed, based on the noncovalent assembly of dye-labeled ATP aptamer and single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs). In the absence of ATP, the dye tethered to the ATP aptamer is close to SWNTs, which can effectively quench fluorescence of the dye. Upon adding ATP, the fluorophore keeps away from the quencher, since ATP specifically binds to the aptamer and competes with carbon nanotubes, resulting in an increase in the fluorescence intensity. This enables ATP to be detected down to 4.5 nM. To the best of our knowledge, this is the most sensitive fluorescent ATP aptasensor. In addition, prominent fluorescence signals were obtained in cellular ATP assays, thus the aptasensor could be used to detect ATP in real samples.