Determination of Small-Sized α-Synuclein Oligomers Using Solid-State Nanopore Assisted with Circular Single-Stranded...

Misfolded α-synuclein (αS) is significantly associated with the onset and progression of Parkinson's disease (PD), a critical neurodegenerative disorder. In particular, small-sized aggregated αS oligomers are more cytotoxic than mature amyloid-type aggregates and are essential inducers of PD. Solid-state nanopores, functioning as single-molecule sensors, are highly effective for identifying native proteins and determining conformational changes with high resolution. However, nanopore sensors based on the resistive pulse sensing principle face challenges in identifying target molecules for highly heterogeneous biomolecules or bioparticles such as αS oligomers. Herein, we report an approach for the quantitative determination of αS oligomers varying excluded volumes using 10 nm diameter silicon nitride (SiN_x) nanopores assisted by a circular single-stranded DNA (CssDNA) frame. This frame comprises an aptamer designed to specifically capture αS oligomers. The αS oligomers can be identified and classified into four different species, from dimers to heptamers, by analyzing the events based on particular subpeaks produced by the complexes of the CssDNA frame incubated with αS monomers for 2 h and translocation through the nanopores. CssDNA frame also captured αS oligomers with 0.5 h incubation, and the detected oligomers are primarily dimers. Finally, the selectivity of CssDNA frame is confirmed by detecting and analyzing the complexes formed by the CssDNA frame incubated with β-lactoglobulin, Aβ1-42 and tau proteins. The developed approach is a promising alternative for achieving the quantitative analysis of αS oligomers at single-molecule levels.