May 15, 2011
Journal Article

Nanoparticle-based immunosensor with apoferritin templated metallic phosphate label for quantification of phosphorylated acetylcholinesterase

Abstract

A new sandwich-like electrochemical immunosensor has been developed for quantification of organophosphorylated acetylcholinesterase (OP-AChE), an exposure biomarker of organophosphate pesticides and nerve agents. Zirconia nanoparticles (ZrO2 NPs) were anchored on a screen printed electrode (SPE) to preferably capture OP-AChE adducts by metal chelation with phospho-moieties, which was selectively recognized by lead phosphate-apoferritin labeled anti-AChE antibody (LPA-anti-AChE). The sandwich-like immunoreactions were performed among ZrO2 NPs, OP-AChE and LPA-anti-AChE to form ZrO2/OP-AChE/LPA-anti-AChE complex and the released lead ions were detected on a disposable SPE. The binding affinity was investigated by both square wave voltammetry (SWV) and quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) measurements. The proposed immunosensor yielded a linear response current over a broad OP-AChE concentrations range from 0.05 nM to 10 nM, with detection limit of 0.02 nM, which has enough sensitivity for monitoring of low-dose exposure to OPs. This method avoids the drawback of unavailability of commercial OP-specific antibody as well as amplifies detection signal by using apoferritin encoded metallic phosphate nanoparticle tags. This nanoparticle-based immunosensor offers a new method for rapid, sensitive, selective and inexpensive quantification of phosphorylated adducts for monitoring of OP pesticides and nerve agents exposures.

Revised: June 27, 2011 | Published: May 15, 2011

Citation

Du D., A. Chen, Y. Xie, A. Zhang, and Y. Lin. 2011. Nanoparticle-based immunosensor with apoferritin templated metallic phosphate label for quantification of phosphorylated acetylcholinesterase. Biosensors and Bioelectronics 26, no. 9:3857-3863. PNNL-SA-80616. doi:10.1016/j.bios.2011.02.047