Abstract
In this paper, a fluorescent aptamer sensor was constructed based on the carbon dots (CDs) and graphene oxide (GO). This sensor combines the excellent fluorescence performance of CDs with the high specificity of aptamer, which can detect progesterone (P4) with high sensitivity and selectivity. In the absence of P4, the CDs-aptamer system and GO form a fluorescence resonance energy transfer process (FRET), which quenches the fluorescence of the CDs. When P4 is added, the aptamer specifically binds to it, resulting the fluorescence of the CDs is recovered. At optimal conditions, the fluorescence intensity recovered by the CDs has a linear relationship with the concentration of P4 in the range of 0.1-120 nM and the detection limit is 3.3 × 10-11 M. Besides, the sensor has satisfactory detection results of P4 in milk, indicating that constructed method has enormous potential for application in food safety.
Highlights
Progesterone (P4) is a kind of natural steroid, which is mostly secreted by corpus luteum[1, 2]
In the absence of progesterone, the carbon dots-aptamer system and graphene oxide form a fluorescence resonance energy transfer process(FRET), which quenches the fluorescence of the carbon dots
The fluorescence intensity recovered by the carbon dots has a linear relationship with the concentration of progesterone in the range of 0.1-120 nM, and the detection limit is 3.3×10 -11 M
Summary
Progesterone (P4) is a kind of natural steroid, which is mostly secreted by corpus luteum[1, 2]. Long-term consumption of foods containing progesterone, even low-concentration foods, will interfere with the normal function of human body secretion and immune system[7]. The main detection methods of P4 are high performance liquid chromatography[10], fluorescence spectrophotometry[11], electrochemical method and so on[12, 13]. Most of these methods need expensive instruments, complex pretreatment process, cumbersome analysis process and time-consuming, so they are not suitable for large-scale field detection. Because of the advantages of simple operation, high sensitivity and low cost, fluorescence spectrophotometry has caught the attention of researchers
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