Aptamer Functionalized Hydrogel Nanocomposite for Electrochemical Sensing of Progesterone

Among the numerous analytical techniques, electrochemical devices have emerged as a cost-effective tool for point-of-care (POC) diagnosis. Electrochemical biosensing devices combine the peculiar features of the bioreceptors, such as selectivity and specificity, with a cost-effective and miniaturised electronic readout system. In this work, aptamer functionalised AuNCs integrated with a hybrid hydrogel employed as a reliable aptamer modified sensing platform for detecting progesterone (p4). The binding features of the p4 sensor are studied using square wave voltammetry. The p4 sensor was responsive to p4 concentration ranging from 1 to 100 nM with a detection limit of 0.3 ng/mL.</jats:p

Self-Reporting Molecularly Imprinted Polymer-Based Electrochemical Sensors for Structurally Similar Analytes

Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) having inherent redox activity is developed for reagent-free electrochemical detection of steroid hormone biomarker cortisol. Ferrocenylmethyl methacrylate and acrylic acid were used as redox and functional monomers, respectively. Free radical initiated co-polymerization process was performed in the presence of cortisol as a template to create electroactive MIPs. The copolymerized ferrocenylmethyl methacrylate network provided the redox-active and self-reporting electrochemical platform for detecting redox-inactive biomarkers without using any additional reagents. Cortisol is chosen as the model analyte to evaluate the performance of the self-reporting molecular recognition property. The self-reporting MIPs allowed the quantitative detection of cortisol (as low as 0.5 ng) in the presence of other structurally similar steroid hormones.</jats:p