Skip to main content

Advertisement

Springer Nature Link
Log in

An off–on electrochemiluminescence detection for microRNAs based on TiO2 nanotubes sensitized with gold nanoparticles as enhanced emitters

  • Research Paper
  • Published:
Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A sensitive electrochemiluminescence (ECL) assay for microRNAs (miRNAs) based on a semiconductor nanomaterial sensitized with noble-metal Au nanoparticles (NPs) is successfully developed. TiO2 nanotubes (NTs) were equipped with Au NPs to obtain an enhanced ECL emitter. Then, an ECL assay for miRNA-21 was fabricated, which was based on the use of probe 2 DNA–functionalized Pt/PAMAM nanocomposites (NCs) assembled on the surface of Au/TiO2 NT conjugate via DNA hybridization between probe 1 DNA and capture DNA. The Pt/PAMAM NCs act as an ECL quencher of Au/TiO2 NTs via resonance energy transfer. After the binding of target miRNA-21 and the capture DNA, the Pt/PAMAM NCs were released and the ECL signal was recovered. An “off–on” ECL assay was achieved with a linear response from 0.01 to 10,000 pM. Finally, this method has been validated to be sensitive and specific for miRNAs in human serum samples. The ECL enhancement strategy opens a new way for fabricating various sensitive biosensors.

A sensitive “off–on” electrochemiluminescence analysis method was developed, which combined Au NP–enhanced ECL emission of TiO2 nanotubes and an efficient energy-transfer system between Au/TiO2 nanotubes and Pt/PAMAM nanocomposites

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+
from $39.99 /Month
  • Starting from 10 chapters or articles per month
  • Access and download chapters and articles from more than 300k books and 2,500 journals
  • Cancel anytime
View plans

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Scheme 1
Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

Explore related subjects

Discover the latest articles, books and news in related subjects, suggested using machine learning.

References

  1. Bai J, Zhou BX. Titanium dioxide nanomaterials for sensor applications. Chem Rev. 2014;114:10131–76.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Grätzel M. Photoelectrochemical cells. Nature. 2001;414:338–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Konstantinou IK, Albanis TA. TiO2-assisted photocatalytic degradation of azo dyes in aqueous solution: kinetic and mechanistic investigations: a review. Appl Catal B Environ. 2004;49:1–14.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Ni M, Leung MKH, Leung DYC, Sumathy K. A review and recent developments in photocatalytic water-splitting using TiO2 for hydrogen production. Renew Sust Energ Rev. 2007;11:401–25.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Mills A, Hunte SL. An overview of semiconductor photocatalysis. J Photochem Photobiol A Chem. 1997;108:1–35.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Deng SY, Ju HX. Electrogenerated chemiluminescence of nanomaterials for bioanalysis. Analyst. 2012;138:43–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Tian CY, Xu JJ, Chen HY. A novel aptasensor for the detection of adenosine in cancer cells by electrochemiluminescence of nitrogen doped TiO2 nanotubes. Chem Commun. 2012;48:8234–6.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Tian CY, Zhao WW, Wang J, Xu JJ, Chen HY. Amplified quenching of electrochemiluminescence from CdS sensitized TiO2 nanotubes by CdTe-carbon nanotube composite for detection of prostate protein antigen in serum. Analyst. 2012;137:3070–5.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Song YY, Zhuang QL, Li CY, Liu HF, Cao J, Gao ZD. CdS nanocrystals functionalized TiO2 nanotube arrays: novel electrochemiluminescence platforms for ultrasensitive immunosensors. Electrochem Commun. 2012;16:44–8.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Dai PP, Yu T, Shi HW, Xu JJ, Chen HY. A general strategy for enhancing electrochemiluminescence of semiconductor nanocrystals by hydrogen peroxide and potassium persulfate as dual-coreactants. Anal Chem. 2015;87:12372–9.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Dai P, Liu C, Xie C, Ke J, He Y, Wei L, et al. TiO2 nanotubes loaded with CdS nanocrystals as enhanced emitters of electrochemiluminescence: application to an assay for prostate-specific antigen. Anal Bioanal Chem. 2020;412:1375–84.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Jun Y, Park JH, Kang MG. The preparation of highly ordered TiO2 nanotube arrays by an anodization method and their applications. Chem Commun. 2012;48:6456–71.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Huo KF, Gao B, Fu JJ, Zhao LZ, Chu PK. Fabrication, modification, and biomedical applications of anodized TiO2 nanotube arrays. RSC Adv. 2014;4:17300–24.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Jen HP, Lin MH, Li LL, Wu HP, Huang WK, Cheng PJ, et al. High performance large-scale flexible dye-sensitized solar cells based on anodic TiO2 nanotube arrays. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2013;5:10098–104.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Zhang Z, Wang P. Optimization of photoelectrochemical water splitting performance on hierarchical TiO2 nanotube arrays. Energy Environ Sci. 2012;5:6506–12.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Tian CY, Wang L, Luan F, Zhuang XM. An electrochemiluminescence sensor for the detection of prostate protein antigen based on the graphene quantum dots infilled TiO2 nanotube arrays. Talanta. 2019;191:103–8.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Jie GF, Liu B, Pan HC, Zhu JJ, Chen HY. Cds nanocrystal-based electrochemiluminescence biosensor for the detection of low-density lipoprotein by increasing sensitivity with gold nanoparticle amplification. Anal Chem. 2007;79:5574–81.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Jie GF, Liu P, Zhang SS. Highly enhanced electrochemiluminescence of novel gold/silica/CdSe-CdS nanostructures for ultrasensitive immunoassay of protein tumor marker. Chem Commun. 2010;46:1323–5.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Wang CZ, Yifeng E, Fan LZ, Yang SH, Li YL. CdS-Ag nanocomposite arrays: enhanced electro-chemiluminescence but quenched photoluminescence. J Mater Chem. 2009;19:3841–6.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Li JX, Yang LX, Luo SL, Chen BB, Li J, Lin HL, et al. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon detection by electrochemiluminescence generating Ag/TiO2 nanotubes. Anal Chem. 2010;82:7357–61.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Ventura A, Jacks T. MicroRNAs and cancer: short RNAs go a long way. Cell. 2009;136:586–91.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Lujambio A, Lowe SW. The microcosmos of cancer. Nature. 2012;482:347–55.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. de Planell-Saguer M, Rodicio MC. Analytical aspects of microRNA in diagnostics: a review. Anal Chim Acta. 2011;699:134–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Li W, Ruan K. MicroRNA detection by microarray. Anal Bioanal Chem. 2009;394:1117–24.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Thomson JM, Parker J, Perou CM, Hammond SM. A custom microarray platform for analysis of microRNA gene expression. Nat Methods. 2004;1:47–53.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Li J, Yao B, Huang H, Wang Z, Sun CH, Fan Y, et al. Real-time polymerase chain reaction microRNA detection based on enzymatic stem-loop probes ligation. Anal Chem. 2009;81:5446–51.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Fiedler SD, Carletti MZ, Christenson LK. Quantitative RT-PCR methods for mature microRNA expression analysis. Methods Mol Biol. 2010;630:49–64.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Bertoncello P, Forster RJ. Nanostructured materials for electrochemiluminescence (ECL)-based detection methods: recent advances and future perspectives. Biosens Bioelectron. 2009;24:3191–200.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Bertoncello P, Ugo P. Recent advances in electrochemiluminescence with quantum dots and arrays of nanoelectrodes. Chemelectrochem. 2017;4:1663–76.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Zhao WW, Dong XY, Wang J, Kong FY, Xu JJ, Chen HY. Immunogold labeling-induced synergy effect for amplified photoelectrochemical immunoassay of prostate-specific antigen. Chem Commun. 2012;48:5253–5.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Zhao WW, Ma ZY, Yan DY, Xu JJ, Chen HY. In situ enzymatic ascorbic acid production as electron donor for CdS quantum dots equipped TiO2 nanotubes: a general and efficient approach for new photoelectrochemical immunoassay. Anal Chem. 2012;84:10518–21.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. Ye H, Scott RWJ, Crooks RM. Synthesis, characterization, and surface immobilization of platinum and palladium nanoparticles encapsulated within amine-terminated poly(amidoamine) dendrimers. Langmuir. 2004;20:2915–20.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Zhang P, Li ZY, Wang HJ, Zhuo Y, Yuan R, Chai YQ. DNA nanomachine-based regenerated sensing platform: a novel electrochemiluminescence resonance energy transfer strategy for ultra-high sensitive detection of microRNA from cancer cells. Nanoscale. 2017;6:2310–6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Hao KH, He Y, Lu HT, Pu ST, Zhang YN, Dong HF, et al. High-sensitive surface plasmon resonance microRNA biosensor based on streptavidin functionalized gold nanorods-assisted signal amplification. Anal Chim Acta. 2017;954:114–20.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  35. Zhu Y, Qiu D, Yang G, Wang MQ, Zhang QJ, Wang P, et al. Selective and sensitive detection of miRNA-21 based on gold-nanorod functionalized polydiacetylene microtube waveguide. Biosens Bioelectron. 2016;85:198–204.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  36. Lu LY, Tu DT, Liu Y, Zhou SY, Zheng W, Chen XY. Ultrasensitive detection of cancer biomarker microRNA by amplification of fluorescence of lanthanide nanoprobes. Nano Res. 2018;1:264–73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 21705119), Key projects of Natural Science Research of Anhui Province (KJ2017A410), the Science Technology Project of Anhui Province (1606c08229, 1808085QB44, 1804a09020087), University Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program of Anhui Province (s201910376002), and the Foundation of State Key Laboratory of High-efficiency Utilization of Coal and Green Chemical Engineering (2017-K32). This work was also supported by the Domestic Visiting and Training Program for Outstanding Young Backbone Talents in Universities of Anhui Province (gxgnfx2019030).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Biomimetic Sensor and Detecting Technology of Anhui Province, School of Materials and Chemical Engineering, West Anhui University, Lu’an, 237012, Anhui, China

    Panpan Dai, Jiajun Ke, Chenggen Xie, Liyun Wei, Ying Zhang, Yong He, Lijuan Chen & Juncheng Jin

Authors
  1. Panpan Dai
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jiajun Ke
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Chenggen Xie
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Liyun Wei
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Ying Zhang
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Yong He
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Lijuan Chen
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Juncheng Jin
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Panpan Dai.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Ethical approval

All studies were approved by the Ethics Committee of West Anhui University. All people had given informed consent.

Additional information

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Dai, P., Ke, J., Xie, C. et al. An off–on electrochemiluminescence detection for microRNAs based on TiO2 nanotubes sensitized with gold nanoparticles as enhanced emitters. Anal Bioanal Chem 412, 5779–5787 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-020-02800-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-020-02800-8

Keywords