Facile fabrication of an ultrasensitive sandwich-type electrochemical immunosensor for the quantitative detection of alpha fetoprotein using multifunctional mesoporous silica as platform and label for signal amplification

A novel and ultrasensitive sandwich-type electrochemical immunosensor was designed for the quantitative detection of alpha fetoprotein (AFP) using multifunctional mesoporous silica (MCM-41) as platform and label for signal amplification. MCM-41 has high specific surface area, high pore volume, large density of surface silanol groups (SiOH) and good biocompatibility. MCM-41 functionalized with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES), gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) and toluidine blue (TB) could enhance electrochemical signals. Moreover, primary antibodies (Ab1) and secondary antibodies (Ab2) could be effectively immobilized onto the multifunctional MCM-41 by the interaction between Au NPs and amino groups (–NH2) on antibodies. Using multifunctional MCM-41 as a platform and label could greatly simplify the fabrication process and result in a high sensitivity of the designed immunosensor. Under optimal conditions, the designed immunosensor exhibited a wide liner range from 10−4 ng/mL to 103 ng/mL with a low detection limit of 0.05 pg/mL for AFP. The designed immunosensor showed acceptable selectivity, reproducibility and stability, which could provide potential applications in clinical monitoring of AFP.