A myriad of alternative methods for fast and sensible detection of Zika, a tropical disease related to microcephaly in fetus, has been the subject of intense studies in recent years. Surface- enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is a powerful spectroscopic technique combining nanotechnology and Raman spectroscopy, being able to detect traces of closely adsorbed molecules on plasmonic nanostructures. The association of those nanostructures with biomolecules, such as antibodies with specific affinity for pathogenic agents, is able to provide<br/>highly sensitive and selective biomarkers for SERS detection. One of the major ongoing challenges for widening the use of SERS as a characterization and analytical tool is to obtain sensible and reproducible substrates, which can be structurally tuned at the nanoscale for effective detection.<br/>In the present work, considering gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) as an alternative to detect Zika virus by SERS, AuNPs coated with 3 mercaptopropionic acid were placed to interact with Zika SN1 antibodies. In order to optimize the nanosensor system, different concentrations of gold nanoparticles in solution (UV Vis Absorbance between 1 and 0.1), ratios between mols of gold and mols of the capping agent (5 and 10%) and concentrations of antibodies in solution (0.1μg/mL, 0.01μg/mL and 0.001μg/mL) were systematically investigated.<br/>Aggregation of the system, an undesired effect related to the loss of sensor functionality, can be evidenced by the appearance of a second band in UV Vis spectra. As shown in figure 1, the optimal condition involves the coating of nanoparticles with the lower rates of<br/>the coating agent, a low concentration of gold nanoparticles as well of SN1 antibodies. These are probably related to less availability of carboxyl groups for antibodies attachment, avoiding antibodies/nanoparticles bridges that would led to the colloidal aggregation.

Spectroscopy nanosensors based on Zika Virus Sn1 Antibodies linked to gold nanoparticles: A system optimization study

255th National Meeting (2018)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.