Versatile Integration of Liquid-Phase Microextraction and Fluorescent Aptamer Beacons: A Synergistic Effect for Bioanalysis.

Fluorescent aptamer beacons (FABs) are a major category of biosensors widely used in environmental analysis. However, due to their low compatibility, it is difficult to use the common FABs for biological samples. To overcome this challenge, construction of FABs with complex structures to adapt the nature of biological samples is currently in progress in this field. Unlike previous works, we moved our range of vision from the FAB itself to the biological sample. Inspired by this idea, in this work, flat membrane-based liquid-phase microextraction (FM-LPME) with sufficient sample cleanup and preconcentration capacities was integrated with FABs. With the merits of both FM-LPME and FABs, the integrated LPME-FAB system displayed a clear synergistic enhancement for target analysis. Specifically, LPME in the LPME-FAB system provided purified and enriched Hg for the FAB recognition, while the FAB recognition event promoted the extraction efficiency of LPME. Due to superior performances, the LPME-FAB system achieved highly sensitive analysis of Hg in urine samples with a detection limit of 27 nM and accuracies in the range of 98-113%. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that an integrated LPME-FAB system was constructed for target analysis in biological samples. We believe that this study will provide a new insight into the next generation of biosensors, where the integration of sample preparation with detection probes is as important as the design of complex probes in the field of bioanalysis.