College of Pharmaceutical Engineering of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 301617, China.
Sensors (Basel). 2019 Sep 3;19(17):3806. doi: 10.3390/s19173806.
Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is one of the most special and important Raman techniques. An apparent Raman signal can be observed when the target molecules are absorbed onto the surface of the SERS substrates, especially on the "hot spots" of the substrates. Early research focused on exploring the highly active SERS substrates and their detection applications in label-free SERS technology. However, it is a great challenge to use these label-free SERS sensors for detecting hydrophobic or non-polar molecules, especially in complex systems or at low concentrations. Therefore, antibodies, aptamers, and antimicrobial peptides have been used to effectively improve the target selectivity and meet the analysis requirements. Among these selective elements, aptamers are easy to use for synthesis and modifications, and their stability, affinity and specificity are extremely good; they have been successfully used in a variety of testing areas. The combination of SERS detection technology and aptamer recognition ability not only improved the selection accuracy of target molecules, but also improved the sensitivity of the analysis. Variations of aptamer-based SERS sensors have been developed and have achieved satisfactory results in the analysis of small molecules, pathogenic microorganism, mycotoxins, tumor marker and other functional molecules, as well as in successful photothermal therapy of tumors. Herein, we present the latest advances of the aptamer-based SERS sensors, as well as the assembling sensing platforms and the strategies for signal amplification. Furthermore, the existing problems and potential trends of the aptamer-based SERS sensors are discussed.
表面增强拉曼散射（SERS）是最特殊和最重要的拉曼技术之一。当目标分子被吸附到 SERS 基底的表面上时，特别是在基底的“热点”上，可以观察到明显的拉曼信号。早期的研究集中在探索高活性的 SERS 基底及其在无标记 SERS 技术中的检测应用。然而，使用这些无标记的 SERS 传感器来检测疏水性或非极性分子，特别是在复杂体系或低浓度下，是一个巨大的挑战。因此，抗体、适体和抗菌肽已被用于有效提高目标选择性并满足分析要求。在这些选择性元件中，适体易于合成和修饰，其稳定性、亲和力和特异性极好；它们已成功应用于各种测试领域。SERS 检测技术与适体识别能力的结合不仅提高了目标分子的选择准确性，而且提高了分析的灵敏度。基于适体的 SERS 传感器的变化已经得到了发展，并在小分子、致病微生物、霉菌毒素、肿瘤标志物和其他功能分子的分析以及肿瘤的成功光热治疗中取得了令人满意的结果。在此，我们介绍了基于适体的 SERS 传感器的最新进展，以及组装传感平台和信号放大策略。此外，还讨论了基于适体的 SERS 传感器存在的问题和潜在趋势。
