Electrochemical immunoassay for amyloid-beta 1–42 peptide in biological fluids interfacing with a gold nanoparticle modified carbon surface

Functional Nanomaterials for the Diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease: Recent Progress and Future Perspectives

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the main causes of dementia worldwide, whereby neuronal death or malfunction leads to cognitive impairment in the elderly population. AD is highly prevalent, with increased projections over the next few decades. Yet current diagnostic methods for AD occur only after the presentation of clinical symptoms. Evidence in the literature points to potential mechanisms of AD induction beginning before clinical symptoms start to present, such as the formation of amyloid beta (Aβ) extracellular plaques and neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs). Biomarkers of AD, including Aβ 40, Aβ 42, and tau protein, amongst others, show promise for early AD diagnosis. Additional progress is made in the application of biosensing modalities to measure and detect significant changes in these AD biomarkers within patient samples, such as cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) and blood, serum, or plasma. Herein, a comprehensive review of the emerging nano-biomaterial approaches to develop biosensors for AD biomarkers' detection is provided. Advances, challenges, and potential of electrochemical, optical, and colorimetric biosensors, focusing on nanoparticle-based (metallic, magnetic, quantum dots) and nanostructure-based biomaterials are discussed. Finally, the criteria for incorporating these emerging nano-biomaterials in clinical settings are presented and assessed, as they hold great potential for enhancing early-onset AD diagnostics.

Progress in Electrochemical Immunosensors with Alkaline Phosphatase as the Signal Label

Electrochemical immunosensors have shown great potential in clinical diagnosis, food safety, environmental protection, and other fields. The feasible and innovative combination of enzyme catalysis and other signal-amplified elements has yielded exciting progress in the development of electrochemical immunosensors. Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) is one of the most popularly used enzyme reporters in bioassays. It has been widely utilized to design electrochemical immunosensors owing to its significant advantages (e.g., high catalytic activity, high turnover number, and excellent substrate specificity). In this work, we summarized the achievements of electrochemical immunosensors with ALP as the signal reporter. We mainly focused on detection principles and signal amplification strategies and briefly discussed the challenges regarding how to further improve the performance of ALP-based immunoassays.

SiC Electrochemical Sensor Validation for Alzheimer Aβ42 Antigen Detection

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease with only late-stage detection; thus, diagnosis is made when it is no longer possible to treat the disease, only its symptoms. Consequently, this often leads to caregivers who are the patient's relatives, which adversely impacts the workforce along with severely diminishing the quality of life for all involved. It is, therefore, highly desirable to develop a fast, effective and reliable sensor to enable early-stage detection in an attempt to reverse disease progression. This research validates the detection of amyloid-beta 42 (Aβ₄₂) using a Silicon Carbide (SiC) electrode, a fact that is unprecedented in the literature. Aβ₄₂ is considered a reliable biomarker for AD detection, as reported in previous studies. To validate the detection with a SiC-based electrochemical sensor, a gold (Au) electrode-based electrochemical sensor was used as a control. The same cleaning, functionalization and Aβ_1-28 antibody immobilization steps were used on both electrodes. Sensor validation was carried out by means of Cyclic Voltammetry (CV) and Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) aiming to detect an 0.5 µg·mL^-1 Aβ₄₂ concentration in 0.1 M buffer solution as a proof of concept. A repeatable peak directly related to the presence of Aβ₄₂ was observed, indicating that a fast SiC-based electrochemical sensor was constructed and may prove to be a useful approach for the early detection of AD.

Application of aminobenzoic acid electrodeposited screen-printed carbon electrode in the beta-amyloid electrochemical impedance spectroscopy immunoassay

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the important neurodegenerative diseases, in the modern aging society, it has become an issue people need to work on. Of the pathogenic factor which leads to AD, beta-amyloid (Aβ) is the most important one. It can form the senile plaque which aggregates in the neuron and interrupts the signal transmission. This research is based on the electrochemical system and screen-printed carbon electrode (SPCE) incorporated with pretreatment, electrodeposition, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), antibody, and blocking agent. This immunosensor is applied to detect the different concentrations of Aβ. The standard curve between electrical impedance and concentration of Aβ is calculated. The specificity of the immunosensor is tested. This survey optimizes the electrodeposition condition for 4-aminobenzoic acid (4-ABA) and the parameter for antibody and blocking agents. This study fabricates a more dense, uniform, and stable film of 4-ABA. This sensor presents a range of detection from 1 fg/ml to 100 pg/ml and a limit of detection to 3.84 fg/ml. This sensor can identify the isoform of Aβ. This research shortens the fabricating time to 3.5 h. This study fabricates a label-free and low-cost immunosensor for Aβ with a short fabricating time, high stability, wide range of detection, low limit of detection, and good specificity. The impedance of the carbon printed electrodes is very high and is always measured by its current but this study provides a fabrication technique for high-efficiency carbon printed electrodes for electrochemical impedance spectroscopy sensing.

Potentiometric Biosensor Based on Artificial Antibodies for an Alzheimer Biomarker Detection

This paper presents a potentiometric biosensor for the detection of amyloid β-42 (Aβ-42) in point-of-care analysis. This approach is based on the molecular imprint polymer (MIP) technique, which uses covalently immobilised Aβ-42 to create specific detection cavities on the surface of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). The biosensor was prepared by binding Aβ-42 to the SWCNT surface and then imprinting it by adding acrylamide (monomer), N,N’-methylene-bis-acrylamide (crosslinker) and ammonium persulphate (initiator). The target peptide was removed from the polymer matrix by the proteolytic action of an enzyme (proteinase K). The presence of imprinting sites was confirmed by comparing a MIP-modified surface with a negative control (NIP) consisting of a similar material where the target molecule had been removed from the process. The ability of the sensing material to rebind Aβ-42 was demonstrated by incorporating the MIP material as an electroactive compound in a PVC/plasticiser mixture applied to a solid conductive support of graphite. All steps of the synthesis of the imprinted materials were followed by Raman spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The analytical performance was evaluated by potentiometric transduction, and the MIP material showed cationic slopes of 75 mV-decade−1 in buffer pH 8.0 and a detection limit of 0.72 μg/mL. Overall, potentiometric transduction confirmed that the sensor can discriminate Aβ-42 in the presence of other biomolecules in the same solution.

Detection of Amyloid-β(1–42) Aggregation With a Nanostructured Electrochemical Sandwich Immunoassay Biosensor

Amyloid-β(1–42) [Aβ(1–42)] oligomer accumulations are associated with physiologic alterations in the brains of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease. In this study, we demonstrate that a nanostructured gold electrode with deposited gold nanoparticles, induced via electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), may be used as an Aβ(1–42) conformation biosensor for the detection of Alzheimer’s disease. Monoclonal antibodies (12F4) were immobilized on self-assembled monolayers of the electrochemical sandwich immunoassay biosensor to capture Aβ(1–42) monomers and oligomers. Western blot and fluorescence microscopy analyses were performed to confirm the presence of Aβ(1–42) monomers and oligomers. EIS analysis with an equivalent circuit model was used to determine the concentrations of different Aβ(1–42) conformations in this study. We identified conformations of Aβ(1–42) monomers and Aβ(1–42) oligomers using probe antibodies (12F4) by employing EIS. RAβ(1−42) indicates the sum resistance of impedance measured during Aβ(1–42) immobilization. ΔR12F4 refers to the concentration of probe antibody (12F4) binding with Aβ(1–42). The concentration of Aβ(1–42) oligomer was defined as the percentage of Aβ(1–42) aggregation R12F4/RAβ(1−42). The experimental results show that the biosensor has high selectivity to differentiate Aβ(1–40) and Aβ(1–42) monomers and Aβ(1–42) oligomers and that it can detect Aβ(1–42) oligomer accurately. The linear detection range for Aβ(1–42) oligomers was between 10 pg/ml and 100 ng/ml. The limit of detection was estimated to be 113 fg/ml.

Sensing Alzheimer’s Disease Utilizing Au Electrode by Controlling Nanorestructuring

This paper reports the development of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) sensor through early detection of amyloid-beta (Aβ) (1–42) using simple nanorestructuring of Au sheet plate by oxidation-reduction cycle (ORC) via the electrochemical system. The topology of Au substrates was enhanced through the roughening and Au grains grown by a simple ORC technique in aqueous solutions containing 0.1 mol/L KCl electrolytes. The roughened substrate was then functionalized with the highly specific antibody β-amyloid Aβ (1–28) through HS-PEG-NHS modification, which enabled effective and direct detection of Aβ (1–42) peptide. The efficacy of the ORC method had been exhibited in the polished Au surface by approximately 15% larger electro-active sites compared to the polished Au without ORC. The ORC polished structure demonstrated a rapid, accurate, precise, reproducible, and highly sensitive detection of Aβ (1–42) peptide with a low detection limit of 10.4 fg/mL and a wide linear range of 10−2 to 106 pg/mL. The proposed structure had been proven to have potential as an early-stage Alzheimer’s disease (AD) detection platform with low-cost fabrication and ease of operation.

Hollow Gold Nanosphere Templated Synthesis of PEGylated Hollow Gold Nanostars and Use for SERS Detection of Amyloid Beta in Solution

Hollow gold nanospheres (HGNs) have been used as the template for seed-mediated growth of multibranched hollow gold nanostars (HNS). The HGNs were synthesized via anerobic reduction of cobalt chloride to cobalt nanoparticles and then formation of a gold shell via galvanic replacement followed by the oxidation of the cobalt core. We obtained control of the inner core size of the HGNs by increasing the size of the sacrificial cobalt core and by varying the ratio of B(OH)₃/BH₄ using boric acid rather than 48 h aged borohydride. We synthesized the HNS by reducing Au³⁺ ions in the presence of Ag⁺ ions using ascorbic acid, creating a spiky morphology that varied with the Au³⁺/Ag⁺ ratio. A broadly tunable localized surface plasmon resonance was achieved through control of both the inner core and the spike length. Amyloid beta (Aβ) was conjugated to the HNS by using a heterobifunctional PEG linker and identified by the vibrational modes associated with the conjugated ring phenylalanine side chain. A bicinchoninic acid assay was used to determine the concentration of Aβ conjugated to HNS as 20 nM, which is below the level of Aβ that negatively affects long-term potentiation. Both the core size and spike length were shown to affect the optical properties of the resulting nanostructures. This HGN templated method introduced a new parameter for enhancing the plasmonic properties of gold nanostars, namely, the addition of a hollow core. Hollow gold nanostars are highly desirable for a wide range of applications, including high sensitivity disease detection and monitoring.

Colorimetric cellulose-based test-strip for rapid detection of amyloid β-42

An innovative sensing assay is described for point-of-care (PoC) quantification of a biomarker of Alzheimer's disease, amyloid β-42 (Aβ-42). This device is based on a cellulose paper-dye test strip platform in which the corresponding detection layer is integrated by applying a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) to the cellulose paper surface. Briefly, the cellulose paper is chemically modified with a silane to subsequently apply the MIP detection layer. The imprinting process is confirmed by the parallel preparation of a control material, namely a non-imprinted polymer (NIP). The chemical changes of the surface were evaluated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), contact angle, and thermogravimetric analysis (TG). Proteins and peptides can be quantified by conventional staining methods. For this purpose, Coomassie blue (CB) was used as a staining dye for the detection and quantification of Aβ-42. Quantitative determination is made possible by taking a photograph and applying an appropriate mathematical treatment to the color coordinates provided by the ImageJ program. The MIP shows a linear range between 1.0 ng/mL and 10 μg/mL and a detection limit of 0.71 ng/mL. Overall, this cellulose-based assay is suitable for the detection of peptides or proteins in a sample by visual comparison of color change. The test strip provides a simple, instrument-free, and cost-effective method with high chemical stability, capable of detecting very small amounts of peptides or proteins in a sample, and can be used for the detection of any (bio)molecule of interest.

A Concise Overview of Biosensing Technologies for the Detection of Alzheimer's Disease Biomarkers

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a brain-linked pathophysiological condition with neuronal degeneration, cognition dysfunctions, and other debilitations. Due to the growing prevalence of AD, there is a highly commended tendency to accelerate and develop analytical technologies for easy, cost-effective, and sensitive detection of AD biomarkers. In the last decade, remarkable advancements have been achieved on the gate to the progression of biosensors, predominantly optical and electrochemical, to detect AD biomarkers. Biosensors are commanding analytical devices that can conduct biological responses on transducers into measurable signals. These analytical devices can assist the case finding and management of AD. This review focuses on up-to-date developments, contests, and tendencies regarding AD biosensing principally, emphasizing the exclusive possessions of nanomaterials.

Clinically oriented Alzheimer's biosensors: expanding the horizons towards point-of-care diagnostics and beyond

The development of minimally invasive and easy-to-use sensor devices is of current interest for ultrasensitive detection and signal recognition of Alzheimer's disease (AD) biomarkers. Over the years, tremendous effort has been made on diagnostic platforms specifically targeting neurological markers for AD in order to replace the conventional, laborious, and invasive sampling-based approaches. However, the sophistication of analytical outcomes, marker inaccessibility, and material validity strongly limit the current strategies towards effectively predicting AD. Recently, with the promising progress in biosensor technology, the realization of a clinically applicable sensing platform has become a potential option to enable early diagnosis of AD and other neurodegenerative diseases. In this review, various types of biosensors, which include electrochemical, fluorescent, plasmonic, photoelectrochemical, and field-effect transistor (FET)-based sensor configurations, with better clinical applicability and analytical performance towards AD are highlighted. Moreover, the feasibility of these sensors to achieve point-of-care (POC) diagnosis is also discussed. Furthermore, by grafting nanoscale materials into biosensor architecture, the remarkable enhancement in durability, functionality, and analytical outcome of sensor devices is presented. Finally, future perspectives on further translational and commercialization pathways of clinically driven biosensor devices for AD are discussed and summarized.

Nanoconstructs as a versatile tool for detection and diagnosis of Alzheimer biomarkers

The current review focuses towards the advancements made in the past decade in the field of nanotechnology for the early Alzheimer's disease (AD) diagnosis. This review includes the application of nanomaterials and nanosensors for the early detection of the main AD biomarkers (amyloid beta, phosphorylated tau, apolipoprotein E4 allele or APOE4, microRNAs, cholesterol, hydrogen peroxide etc) in biological fluids, to detect the biomarkers at a very low concentration ranging in pico, femto and even atto molar concentrations. The field of drug development has always aimed and is constantly working on developing disease modifying drugs, but these drugs will only succeed when given in the early disease stages. Thus, developing efficient diagnostic tools is of vital importance. Various nanomaterials such as liposomes; dendrimers; polymeric nanoparticles; coordination polymers; inorganic nanoparticles such as silica, manganese oxide, zinc oxide, iron oxide, super paramagnetic iron oxides; quantum dots, silver nanoparticles, gold nanoparticles, and carbon based nanostructures (carbon nanotubes, graphene oxide, nanofibres, nanodiamonds, carbon dots); Up-conversion nanoparticles; 2D nanomaterials; and radioactive nanoprobes have been used in constructing and improving efficiency of nano-sensors for AD biosensing at an early stage of diagnosis.

Advances in the development paradigm of biosample-based biosensors for early ultrasensitive detection of alzheimer's disease

This review highlights current developments, challenges, and future directions for the use of invasive and noninvasive biosample-based small biosensors for early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) with biomarkers to incite a conceptual idea from a broad number of readers in this field. We provide the most promising concept about biosensors on the basis of detection scale (from femto to micro) using invasive and noninvasive biosamples such as cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), blood, urine, sweat, and tear. It also summarizes sensor types and detailed analyzing techniques for ultrasensitive detection of multiple target biomarkers (i.e., amyloid beta (Aβ) peptide, tau protein, Acetylcholine (Ach), microRNA137, etc.) of AD in terms of detection ranges and limit of detections (LODs). As the most significant disadvantage of CSF and blood-based detection of AD is associated with the invasiveness of sample collection which limits future strategy with home-based early screening of AD, we extensively reviewed the future trend of new noninvasive detection techniques (such as optical screening and bio-imaging process). To overcome the limitation of non-invasive biosamples with low concentrations of AD biomarkers, current efforts to enhance the sensitivity of biosensors and discover new types of biomarkers using non-invasive body fluids are presented. We also introduced future trends facing an infection point in early diagnosis of AD with simultaneous emergence of addressable innovative technologies.

Electrochemical Biosensors Based on Nanomaterials for Early Detection of Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an untreatable neurodegenerative disease that initially manifests as difficulty to remember recent events and gradually progresses to cognitive impairment. The incidence of AD is growing yearly as life expectancy increases, thus early detection is essential to ensure a better quality of life for diagnosed patients. To reach that purpose, electrochemical biosensing has emerged as a cost-effective alternative to traditional diagnostic techniques, due to its high sensitivity and selectivity. Of special relevance is the incorporation of nanomaterials in biosensors, as they contribute to enhance electron transfer while promoting the immobilization of biological recognition elements. Moreover, nanomaterials have also been employed as labels, due to their unique electroactive and electrocatalytic properties. The aim of this review is to add value in the advances achieved in the detection of AD biomarkers, the strategies followed for the incorporation of nanomaterials and its effect in biosensors performance.

Biosensors on the road to early diagnostic and surveillance of Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease is a debilitating and largely untreatable condition with subtle onset and slow progression over an extensive period of time, which culminate in increasing levels of disability. As Alzheimer's disease prevalence is expected to grow exponentially in the upcoming decades, there is an urgency to develop analytical technologies for the sensitive, reliable and cost-effective detection of Alzheimer's disease biomarkers. Biosensors are powerful analytical devices that translate events of biological recognition on physical or chemical transducers into electrical, thermal or optical signals. The high sensitivity and selectivity of biosensors associated with easy, rapid and low-cost determination of analytes have made this discipline one of the most intensively studied in the past decades. This review centers on recent advances, challenges and trends of Alzheimer's disease biosensing particularly in the effort to combine the unique properties of nanomaterials with biorecognition elements. In the last decade, impressive progresses have been made towards the development of biosensors, mainly electrochemical and optical, for detection of Alzheimer's disease biomarkers in the pico- and femto-molar range. Nonetheless, advances in multiplexed detection, robustness, stability and specificity are still necessary to ensure an accurate and differentiated diagnosis of this disease.

Nanomaterials towards Biosensing of Alzheimer's Disease Biomarkers

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an incurable and highly debilitating condition characterized by the progressive degeneration and/or death of nerve cells, which leads to manifestation of disabilities in cognitive functioning. In recent years, the development of biosensors for determination of AD's main biomarkers has made remarkable progress, particularly based on the tremendous advances in nanoscience and nanotechnology. The unique and outstanding properties of nanomaterials (such as graphene, carbon nanotubes, gold, silver and magnetic nanoparticles, polymers and quantum dots) have been contributing to enhance the electrochemical and optical behavior of transducers while offering a suitable matrix for the immobilization of biological recognition elements. Therefore, optical and electrochemical immuno- and DNA-biosensors with higher sensitivity, selectivity and longer stability have been reported. Nevertheless, strategies based on the detection of multiple analytes still need to be improved, as they will play a crucial role in minimizing misdiagnosis. This review aims to provide insights into the conjugation of nanomaterials with different transducers highlighting their crucial role in the construction of biosensors for detection of AD main biomarkers.

An impedimetric micro-immunosensing assay to detect Alzheimer's disease biomarker: Aβ40

A miniaturized biosensing platform, based on monoclonal amyloid-beta antibodies (mAβ_ab) that were immobilized on a disc-shaped platinum/iridium (Pt/Ir) microelectrode surface coupled with an impedimetric signal transducer, was developed for the label-free and sensitive detection of amyloid-beta peptide fragment 1-40 (Aβ40); a reliable biomarker for early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). A Pt/Ir microelectrode was electropolymerized with poly (ortho-phenylenediamine), a conducting free amine-containing aromatic polymer; followed by crosslinking with glutaraldehyde for subsequent coupling of mAβ_ab on the microelectrode surface. This modification strategy efficiently improved the impedimetric detection performance of Aβ40 in terms of charge transfer resistance (∼400-fold difference) and normalized impedance magnitude percentage change (∼40% increase) compared with a passive adsorption-based immobilization method. The sensitivity of the micro-immunosensing assay was found to be 1056 kΩ/(pg/mL)/cm² and the limit of detection was found to be 4.81 pg/mL with a dynamic range of 1-10⁴ pg/mL (R² = 0.9932). The overall precision of the assay, as measured by relative standard deviation, ranged from 0.84 to 5.15%, demonstrating its reliability and accuracy; while in respect to assay durability and stability, the immobilized mAβ_ab were able to maintain 80% of their binding activity to Aβ40 after incubation for 48 h at ambient temperature (25 °C). To validate the practical applicability, the assay was tested using brain tissue lysates prepared from AD-induced rats. Results indicate that the proposed impedimetric micro-immunosensing platform is highly versatile and adaptable for the quantitative detection of other disease-related biomarkers.