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Preparation of brightly fluorescent silica nanoparticles modified with lucigenin and chitosan, and their application to an aptamer-based sandwich assay for thrombin

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Abstract

We report on the preparation of fluorescent silica nanoparticles (SiNPs) modified with chitosan and lucigenin by using a reverse microemulsion method. The introduction of chitosan to the lucigenin doped SiNPs is shown to improve the fluorescence quantum yield. The modified SiNPs were used as fluorescent markers in an aptamer-based method for selective determination of thrombin. In this protocol, thrombin was sandwiched between streptavidin-coated magnetic beads and the fluorescent SiNPs modified with a thrombin-binding aptamer. The method was successfully applied to the determination of thrombin in human serum and showed a detection limit as low as 0.02 nM. In our perception, the protocol presented here is promising in that such SiNPs may be applied to the sensitive fluorescent detection of other analytes by changing the corresponding aptamer.

The introduction of chitosan to the lucigenin doped SiNPs is shown to improve the fluorescence quantum yield. The modified SiNPs were used as fluorescent markers in an aptamer-based method for selective determination of thrombin. The effect of chitosan concentration on fluorescence intensity of lucigenin/SiO2 nanoparticles (the volume of chitosan solution is 100 μL)

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant 21375085) and Innovation Funds for Graduate Programs of Shaanxi Normal University (No. 2011CXB009).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Life Science of Shaanxi Province, School of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, 710062, People’s Republic of China

    Mingyang Ma & Xingwang Zheng

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  1. Mingyang Ma
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  2. Xingwang Zheng
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Correspondence to Xingwang Zheng.

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Ma, M., Zheng, X. Preparation of brightly fluorescent silica nanoparticles modified with lucigenin and chitosan, and their application to an aptamer-based sandwich assay for thrombin. Microchim Acta 182, 2193–2199 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-015-1554-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-015-1554-0

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