Department of Molecular Physiology, Niigata University School of Medicine, Niigata 951-8510, Japan.
School of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, SASTRA Deemed University, Thanjavur 613401, India.
ACS Chem Neurosci. 2020 Dec 16;11(24):4024-4047. doi: 10.1021/acschemneuro.0c00355. Epub 2020 Dec 7.
The growing importance of nanomaterials toward the detection of neurotransmitter molecules has been chronicled in this review. Neurotransmitters (NTs) are chemicals that serve as messengers in synaptic transmission and are key players in brain functions. Abnormal levels of NTs are associated with numerous psychotic and neurodegenerative diseases. Therefore, their sensitive and robust detection is of great significance in clinical diagnostics. For more than three decades, electrochemical sensors have made a mark toward clinical detection of NTs. The superiority of these electrochemical sensors lies in their ability to enable sensitive, simple, rapid, and selective determination of analyte molecules while remaining relatively inexpensive. Additionally, these sensors are capable of being integrated in robust, portable, and miniaturized devices to establish point-of-care diagnostic platforms. Nanomaterials have emerged as promising materials with significant implications for electrochemical sensing due to their inherent capability to achieve high surface coverage, superior sensitivity, and rapid response in addition to simple device architecture and miniaturization. Considering the enormous significance of the levels of NTs in biological systems and the advances in sensing ushered in with the integration of nanotechnology in electrochemistry, the analysis of NTs by employing nanomaterials as interface materials in various matrices has emerged as an active area of research. This review explores the advancements made in the field of electrochemical sensors for the sensitive and selective determination of NTs which have been described in the past two decades with a distinctive focus on extremely innovative attributes introduced by nanotechnology.
本文综述了纳米材料在检测神经递质分子方面的重要性日益增加。神经递质（NTs）是作为突触传递中的信使的化学物质，是大脑功能的关键参与者。NTs 水平异常与许多精神和神经退行性疾病有关。因此，对其进行灵敏和稳健的检测在临床诊断中具有重要意义。三十多年来，电化学传感器在 NTs 的临床检测方面取得了显著成就。这些电化学传感器的优势在于它们能够实现对分析物分子的灵敏、简单、快速和选择性测定，同时保持相对较低的成本。此外，这些传感器能够集成到坚固、便携和小型化的设备中，以建立即时诊断平台。由于纳米材料具有实现高表面积覆盖、卓越灵敏度和快速响应的固有能力，以及简单的器件结构和小型化，因此它们作为电化学传感中具有重要意义的有前途的材料已经出现。考虑到 NTs 在生物系统中的水平的巨大意义，以及纳米技术在电化学中的集成所带来的传感方面的进步，将纳米材料作为各种基质中的界面材料来分析 NTs 已经成为一个活跃的研究领域。本文探讨了过去二十年中在电化学传感器领域为灵敏和选择性测定 NTs 方面取得的进展，特别强调了纳米技术带来的极具创新性的特性。
