State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemical Biology and Key Laboratory of Functional Polymer Materials, Institute of Polymer Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China.
Biomacromolecules. 2012 Jan 9;13(1):92-7. doi: 10.1021/bm2012696. Epub 2011 Dec 14.
Novel biosensors have been designed by reporting an analyte-induced (de)swelling of a stimuli-responsive hydrogel (usually in a form of thin film) with a suitable optical transducer. These simple, inexpensive hydrogel biosensors are highly desirable, however, their practical applications have been hindered, largely because of their slow response. Here we show that quick response hydrogel sensors can be designed from ultrathin hydrogel films. By the adoption of layer-by-layer assembly, a simple but versatile approach, glucose-sensitive hydrogel films with thickness on submicrometer or micrometer scale, which is 2 orders of magnitude thinner than films used in ordinary hydrogel sensors, can be facilely fabricated. The hydrogel films can not only respond to the variation in glucose concentration, but also report the event via the shift of Fabry-Perot fringes using the thin film itself as Fabry-Perot cavity. The response is linear and reversible. More importantly, the response is quite fast, making it possible to be used for continuous glucose monitoring.
新型生物传感器的设计原理是通过合适的光学传感器报告分析物诱导的（去）水凝胶（通常以薄膜的形式）溶胀。这些简单、廉价的水凝胶生物传感器非常理想，然而，由于其响应缓慢，它们的实际应用受到了阻碍。在这里，我们展示了可以从超薄膜状水凝胶中设计出快速响应的水凝胶传感器。通过采用层层组装的简单而通用的方法，可以轻松制备厚度在亚微米或微米级的葡萄糖敏感水凝胶薄膜，这比普通水凝胶传感器中使用的薄膜薄两个数量级。这些水凝胶薄膜不仅可以响应葡萄糖浓度的变化，还可以通过薄膜本身作为法布里-珀罗腔的法布里-珀罗条纹的移动来报告事件。这种响应是线性和可逆的。更重要的是，响应非常快，使得它有可能用于连续血糖监测。
