Enhancing the sensitivity of localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) biosensors using nanorods and DNA aptamers

Abstract

Localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) biosensors have drawn much attention for their promising application in point-of-care diagnostics. While surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensing systems have been well developed, LSPR systems have the advantages of simpler and more compact setups. The LSPR peak shifts caused by the binding of molecules to the LSPR substrates, however, are usually smaller than 1 nm if no signal amplification mechanism is used. When using nanoparticles to enhance the sensitivity of LSPR biosensors, because of the short field penetration depth, the nanoparticles should be very close to the LSPR substrate to induce significant shifts in the LSPR peak position. In this study, we used DNA aptamers and gold nanorods to significantly increase the change in the LSPR peak position with the concentration of the target molecules. We have successfully used the proposed mechanism to detect 0.1 nM interferongamma (IFN-γ), a biomarker related to the diagnosis of latent tuberculosis infection. The calibration curves obtained in pure buffers and serum-containing buffers show that accurate detection can be achieved even when the sample is from complex biological fluids such as serum. Because of the enhancement in the sensitivity by the proposed sensing scheme, it is possible to use a low-cost spectrometer to build a LSPR biosensing system.