Colorimetric detection of epinephrine using an optimized paper-based aptasensor

Nileshi Saraf; Alexander Bosak; Alicia Willenberg; Soumen Das; Bradley Jay Willenberg; Sudipta Seal

doi:10.1039/C7RA10272K

Colorimetric detection of epinephrine using an optimized paper-based aptasensor†

Nileshi Saraf,^a Alexander Bosak,^b Alicia Willenberg,^b Soumen Das,^a Bradley Jay Willenberg^b and Sudipta Seal

*^a

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* Corresponding authors

^a Advanced Materials Processing and Analysis Center, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL-32816, USA
E-mail: Sudipta.Seal@ucf.edu
Tel: +1-4075928565

^b Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32827, USA

Abstract

A simple label-free colorimetric detection of epinephrine has been demonstrated based on its interaction with aptamer functionalized gold nanoparticles. The role of different parameters such as morphology of AuNPs, aptamer concentration and salt destabilization has been thoroughly investigated to enhance the performance of the sensor in terms of sensitivity and specificity. A range of common interfering agents such as 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC), tryptophan, dopamine, ascorbic acid etc. showed very little/no aggregation in the solution which indicates the specificity of the sensor. The sensor was then tested on a hydrophobic paper substrate for the development of a cheap, portable and point of care diagnostic tool. A visible change in colour from red to blue was observed in the solution with increasing concentration of epinephrine. The present approach gave a detection limit of 0.9 nM using UV-visible spectroscopy which is by far the lowest detection limit of epinephrine using any colorimetric approach.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/C7RA10272K
Article type: Paper
Submitted: 15 Sep 2017
Accepted: 14 Oct 2017
First published: 20 Oct 2017
This article is Open Access

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RSC Adv., 2017,7, 49133-49143

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Colorimetric detection of epinephrine using an optimized paper-based aptasensor

N. Saraf, A. Bosak, A. Willenberg, S. Das, B. J. Willenberg and S. Seal, RSC Adv., 2017, 7, 49133 DOI: 10.1039/C7RA10272K

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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Colorimetric detection of epinephrine using an optimized paper-based aptasensor†

Abstract

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Colorimetric detection of epinephrine using an optimized paper-based aptasensor

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