Exploring Europium Complex With Aggregation Induced Emission Properties for Immune Fluorescence Test Strips...

Area of Science:

• Biomaterials Science
• Analytical Chemistry
• Nanotechnology

Background:

• Lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) sensitivity is crucial for early disease detection.
• Traditional colloidal gold probes have limitations in sensitivity for certain biomarkers.
• Luminescent nanospheres offer potential for enhanced signal amplification in diagnostic assays.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop novel aggregation-induced emission luminogens (AIEgens)-embedded nanospheres (AIENPs) for enhanced LFIA sensitivity.
• To utilize red-emissive AIE-active europium complexes within nanospheres for signal amplification.
• To demonstrate the application of AIENPs in rapid, point-of-care detection of various biomarkers.

Main Methods:

• Synthesis of AIEgens-embedded nanospheres (AIENPs) incorporating europium complexes.
• Development of AIENPs as signal amplification probes for LFIA.
• Testing AIENPs in LFIA for detecting COVID-19 biomarkers, nasopharyngeal carcinoma biomarkers, and methamphetamine.

Main Results:

• AIENPs demonstrated red-emission and aggregation-induced emission properties.
• The AIENPs-based LFIA showed over 10 times higher sensitivity compared to colloidal gold-based methods.
• Successful detection of target proteins and small molecules was achieved, indicating high sensitivity and specificity.

Conclusions:

• AIENPs serve as highly sensitive signal amplification probes for LFIA.
• This technology significantly enhances early detection capabilities for infectious diseases, cancers, and drug monitoring.
• The developed AIENPs show broad applicability in point-of-care diagnostics and public safety monitoring.