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Plasmonic-Enhanced Colorimetric Lateral Flow Immunoassays Using Bimetallic Silver-Coated Gold Nanostars.
Supriya Atta1,2, Yuanhao Zhao1,2, Sebastian Sanchez3
1Fitzpatrick Institute for Photonics, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708, United States.
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
|September 29, 2024
Summary
This study introduces a novel plasmonic-enhanced colorimetric lateral flow immunoassay (PE-cLFIA) using bimetallic nanostars for highly sensitive detection of infectious disease markers. The new method significantly improves sensitivity for point-of-care testing (POCT).
Area of Science:
- Nanotechnology
- Biomedical Engineering
- Analytical Chemistry
Background:
- Colorimetric lateral flow immunoassays (cLFIA) are popular for point-of-care testing (POCT) due to cost-effectiveness and ease of use.
- Conventional cLFIA often suffers from low analytical sensitivity, limiting the detection of trace analytes.
- There is a need for enhanced LFIA platforms with improved sensitivity for early disease detection.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a novel plasmonic-enhanced colorimetric LFIA (PE-cLFIA) platform.
- To utilize bimetallic silver-coated gold nanostars (BGNS) for enhanced optical properties and visual color brightness.
- To improve the analytical sensitivity of LFIA for detecting trace amounts of target analytes.
Main Methods:
- Fabrication of bimetallic silver-coated gold nanostars (BGNS) with specific silver thickness (BGNS-3: 45 nm).
- Development of a PE-cLFIA platform incorporating BGNS for enhanced signal amplification.
- Application of the PE-cLFIA to detect low-calcium response V (LcrV), a virulence factor of *Yersinia pestis*.
Main Results:
- The BGNS-based PE-cLFIA achieved a detection limit of 13.7 pg/mL for LcrV, approximately 50 times more sensitive than traditional gold nanoparticle-LFIA.
- Antibody-conjugated BGNS-3 demonstrated excellent stability, maintaining performance for over 6 months.
- The PE-cLFIA platform successfully detected LcrV spiked in human serum with a detection limit of 22.8 pg/mL, without sample preprocessing.
Conclusions:
- The developed BGNS-based PE-cLFIA offers ultrahigh visual colorimetric sensitivity and improved stability.
- This novel platform holds significant potential for sensitive point-of-care testing (POCT) of infectious diseases.
- Hybrid nanoparticle systems can advance the development of next-generation diagnostic tools for rapid screening.
