College of Chemistry and Materials, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, Fujian 350108, China.
College of Chemical and Material Engineering, Quzhou University, Quzhou, Zhejiang 32400, China.
ACS Appl Bio Mater. 2021 Aug 16;4(8):6519-6526. doi: 10.1021/acsabm.1c00665. Epub 2021 Aug 5.
Detection sensitivity of an electrochemical immunosensor mainly depends on the accessible distance toward the sensing interface; regulating the electrochemical interfacial region thereon is an effective strategy for signal amplification. Herein, a photothermal-regulated sensing interface was designed based on a near-infrared (NIR)-responsive hydrogel probe for ultrasensitive detection of human epididymis protein 4 (HE4). Silver nanoparticle-deposited graphene oxide nanosheet (AgNPs@GO) hybrids as electrochemical signal tags and a photothermal transducer, which were encapsulated in the poly(-isopropylacrylamide) (pNIPAM) hydrogel, were used to develop the NIR-responsive GO@AgNPs-pNIPAM hydrogel probe. Under NIR light irradiation, the excellent photothermal effect of AgNPs@GO hybrids not only rapidly converted NIR light into heat for temperature readout but also triggered the shrinkage behavior of the hydrogel for electrochemical signal amplification. Compared with the conventional sandwich immunoassay, the shrinkage behavior of the hydrogel signal probe endowed itself with interface regulation capability to improve the electrochemical reaction efficiency; on the basis of ensuring the extended outer Helmholtz plane (OHP) region, the proposed photothermal-induced interface regulation also shortened the OHP, leading to higher sensitivity. Moreover, the obtained dual-mode signals provided satisfactory accuracy for the detection of tumor markers. Therefore, this detection scheme provided an opportunity for the broad applications of the photothermal effect in clinical diagnosis.
电化学免疫传感器的检测灵敏度主要取决于其接近传感界面的距离;因此,调控电化学界面区域是一种有效的信号放大策略。在此,我们基于近红外(NIR)响应水凝胶探针设计了一种光热调控传感界面,用于超灵敏检测人附睾蛋白 4(HE4)。将作为电化学信号标记物和光热换能器的银纳米粒子修饰的氧化石墨烯纳米片(AgNPs@GO)杂化物封装在聚(异丙基丙烯酰胺)(pNIPAM)水凝胶中,用于制备 NIR 响应的 GO@AgNPs-pNIPAM 水凝胶探针。在 NIR 光照射下,AgNPs@GO 杂化物的优异光热效应不仅能迅速将 NIR 光转化为热能以进行温度读出,还能触发水凝胶的收缩行为以实现电化学信号放大。与传统的三明治免疫分析相比,水凝胶信号探针的收缩行为赋予其界面调节能力,从而提高电化学反应效率;在确保扩展的外亥姆霍兹平面(OHP)区域的基础上,所提出的光热诱导界面调节还缩短了 OHP,从而提高了灵敏度。此外,所获得的双模态信号为肿瘤标志物的检测提供了令人满意的准确性。因此,该检测方案为临床诊断中光热效应的广泛应用提供了机会。