A novel microfluidic immunoassay system based on electrochemical immunosensors: an application for the detection of NT-proBNP in whole blood.

Abstract Electrochemical immunosensors have attracted great interest in the search for a selective, simple and reliable system for molecular recognition. Presently, electrochemical immunosensors have been widely studied for biomedical molecular's detection, but the regeneration of these immunosensors has restricted their wide application. To prepare a regeneration-free immunosensor, which may be more suitable for clinical determination, a repeatable immunoassay system was developed based on an electrochemical immunosensor with magnetic nanoparticles, biotin–avidin system (BAS) and Fab antibodies for the heart failure markers aminoterminal pro-brain natriuretic peptides (NT-proBNP). At the same time, a microfluidic system was combined into the proposed system, which enabled continuous determination. Using NT-proBNP as a model system, the proposed immunosensor exhibited rapid and sensitive amperometric response to NT-proBNP with good selectivity, stability, and a wide linear range (0.005–1.67 ng/mL and 1.67–4 ng/mL with a detection limit of 0.003 ng/mL under optimal conditions). Importantly, the proposed immunosensor was also suitable for the detection of other proteins and provided new opportunities for disease diagnosis.