Fast and highly sensitive detection of pathogens wreathed with magnetic nanoparticles using dark-field microscopy

Date

2018

Authors

Chen, F.
Tang, F.
Yang, C.T.
Zhao, X.
Wang, J.
Thierry, B.
Bansal, V.
Dai, J.
Zhou, X.

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Journal article

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ACS Sensors, 2018; 3(10):2175-2181

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Abstract

Cryptosporidium parvum (C. parvum) is a highly potent zoonotic pathogen, which can do significant harm to both human beings and livestock. However, existing technologies or methods are deficient for rapid on-site detection of water contaminated with C. parvum. Better detection approaches are needed to allow water management agencies to stop major breakouts of the pathogen. Herein, we present a novel detection method for cryptosporidium in a tiny drop of sample using a magnetic nanoparticle (MNP) probe combined with dark-field microscopy in 30 min. The designed MNP probes bind with high affinity to C. parvum, resulting in the formation of a golden garland-like structure under dark-field microscopy. This MNP-based dark-field counting strategy yields an amazing PCR-like sensitivity of 8 attomolar (aM) (5 pathogens in 1 μL). Importantly, the assay is very rapid (∼30 min) and is very simple to perform as it involves only one step of mixing and magnetic separation, followed by dropping on a slide for counting under dark-field microscope. By combining the advantages of the specific light-scattering characteristic of MNP probe under dark field and the selective magnetic separation ability of functionalized MNP, the proposed MNP-based dark-field enumeration method offers low cost and significant translational potential.

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Copyright 2018 American Chemical Society Access Condition Notes: Accepted manuscript available after 1 October 2019

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