Simultaneous and rapid determination of malachite green and leucomalachite green by a label-free colorimetric aptasensor

Abstract

A label-free colorimetric aptasensor, using a bispecific aptamer (A3) as a sensing probe, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) as an indicator, and NaCl solution as an aggregation inducer, was successfully developed for the simultaneous, rapid and visual detection of malachite green (MG) and leucomalachite green (LMG) in aquatic products. This method is based on the aptamer A3 having bispecific binding ability with MG and LMG, making it an ideal recognition receptor for MG and LMG. It can adsorb on the AuNPs and protect AuNPs against salt-induced aggregation, maintaining the red color of the solution. When MG or LMG was added to a solution, aggregation of AuNPs was specifically induced by desorption of aptamer from the AuNPs surface upon formation of the aptamer-target complex. Therefore, the salt could trigger aggregation of AuNPs and the solution color was changed from red to blue. This color change allowed the qualitative determination of MG and LMG visually, and quantitative determination by measuring the ratio of the absorbances at 520 nm and 650 nm. In this study, 50 μL of the nucleic acid aptamer A3 (final concentrations 150 nmol/L) and 150 μL of AuNPs (final concentrations 1.25 nmol/L) were incubated at room temperature (RT) for 6 min, then 50 μL of the sample was added and incubated at RT for 30 min, and finally 50 μL NaCl solution (final concentrations 150 mmol/L) was added. After 4 min, the solution color change was observed, and the absorbances at 520 nm and 650 nm were measured. Under the optimal conditions, MG and LMG could be detected specifically without any cross-reactivity with sulfadiazine (SDZ) and nitrofurantoin (NFT). The absorbance were related to the concentrations of MG and LMG, and a good linear relationship was obtained in the range of 0-17.5 μmol/L. The correlation coefficients (R2) were 0.9938 and 0.9715, respectively. The limits of detection of MG and LMG were 6.93 nmol/L and 6.38 nmol/L, respectively. The spiked recoveries of MG and LMG ranged from 88.60% to 93.30% and 101.80% to 107.00%, respectively. The relative standard deviations (RSDs) of MG and LMG ranged from 2.27% to 3.55% and 2.62% to 3.75%, respectively. This colorimetric method is simple, rapid, sensitive, and allows visual, and it can provide a new method for the simultaneous and rapid determination of the MG and LMG in aquatic products.