An immunosensor for ferritin based on agarose hydrogel

A novel electrochemical immunosensor for determination of ferritin in serum has been proposed. The immunosensor was prepared by immobilizing ferritin antibody (FeAb) on a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) based on agarose hydrogel. The modification procedure of the immunosensor was characterized by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). The effects of amount of FeAb, incubation time and temperature on the immunosensor were explored to provide optimum analytical performance. The determination of ferritin was based on the change in DPV response before and after the antibody (Ab)–antigen (Ag) reaction. Tests result indicated that FeAb in the device microenvironment had biological activity. The detection limit for ferritin was 1.5 × 10−5 g l−1 and the linear range was 5–50 × 10−5 g l−1 with a correlation coefficient of 0.996. The storage stability was acceptable in pH 7.0 phosphate buffer saline (PBS) solution at 4 °C for 10 days. The proposed immunosensor provides a new promising method for the clinical immunoassay of ferritin.