Zamanian Javad, Khoshbin Zahra, Hosseinzadeh Hossein, Danesh Noor Mohammd, Khakshour Abdolabadi Ali, Abnous Khalil, Taghdisi Seyed Mohammad
Pharmaceutical Research Center, Pharmaceutical Technology Institute, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
Department of Medicinal Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
Front Chem. 2022 Oct 19;10:996358. doi: 10.3389/fchem.2022.996358. eCollection 2022.
Cocaine as a detrimental addictive drug threats human health through inducing heart problem, blood pressure, anxiety, immunodeficiency, paranoia, and organ damage. Thus, the quantification of cocaine in the biological samples by a simple, high specificity, and fast method is highly urgent to decrease the harmful effect of the misuse of this drug. In this study, we constructed a novel fluorescent aptasensor by combining the fluorescein (FAM)-modified specific aptamer and AuNPs in a capillary tube as the sensing substrate for the first time. The presence of cocaine recovered the fluorescence response of the aptasensor through interaction with the aptamer and differentiation of the aptamer@AuNPs complex. By fluorescence microscopy imaging of the aptasensor substrate and its quantitative analysis, a remarkable linear range from 100 pM to 600 µM and the ultra-low limit of detection (LOD) as 0.31 pM were achieved for the target detection. Cocaine was successfully quantified in the real samples (human serum and urine) by using the aptasensor. The aptasensor is simple, easy-to-use, favorable applicability, and cost-effective; and to the best of our knowledge, it is the first use of the capillary tube as a sensing platform just by using about 3 μl of the samples. It is also an easy-to-carry tool, promising for the on-site target detection. Besides, it can be a portable device for monitoring cocaine by using a handheld single-beam fluorescence microscope. It can be an appropriate detection tool in forensic science and medicine.
可卡因作为一种有害的成瘾性药物，通过引发心脏问题、血压异常、焦虑、免疫缺陷、妄想症以及器官损伤等威胁人类健康。因此，采用一种简单、高特异性且快速的方法对生物样本中的可卡因进行定量分析，对于降低该药物滥用所产生的有害影响极为迫切。在本研究中，我们首次将荧光素（FAM）修饰的特异性适配体与金纳米粒子（AuNPs）相结合，在毛细管中构建了一种新型荧光适配体传感器作为传感基底。可卡因的存在通过与适配体相互作用以及使适配体@AuNPs复合物发生分化，恢复了适配体传感器的荧光响应。通过对适配体传感器基底进行荧光显微镜成像及其定量分析，实现了对目标检测具有100 pM至600 μM的显著线性范围以及0.31 pM的超低检测限（LOD）。利用该适配体传感器成功对实际样本（人血清和尿液）中的可卡因进行了定量分析。该适配体传感器操作简单、易于使用、适用性良好且成本效益高；据我们所知，它是首次仅使用约3 μl样本就将毛细管用作传感平台。它也是一种便于携带的工具，有望用于现场目标检测。此外，通过使用手持式单光束荧光显微镜，它可以成为一种用于监测可卡因的便携式设备。它可以成为法医学和医学领域中一种合适的检测工具。
