title: Detection of aflatoxin B₁ with immunochromatographic test strips: Enhanced signal sensitivity using gold nanoflowers.
abstract: Immunochromatographic test strips (ICTS) are commonly limited to higher concentrations of analytes. This limitation stems from the relatively low sensitivity of conventional gold nanospheres (AuNSs with a diameter of 20 nm) to emit detectable brightness values. The larger multi-branched gold nanoflowers (AuNFs) with a higher optical brightness as well as good colloidal stability exhibit signiﬁcant improvements over conventional AuNSs for enhanced sensitivity of ICTS. In this study, blue AuNFs with an average diameter of 75±5 nm were synthetized and employed as a signal amplification probe for ultrasensitive and quantitative detection of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) in rice. A portable optical strip reader was used to record the optical densities of test and control lines of the strip. Under the optimal conditions, the AuNF based ICTS system accurately detected AFB1 linearly and dynamically over the range of 0.5-25 pg/mL with a half maximal inhibitory concentration at 4.17 pg/mL. The inhibitory concentration was achieved 10 times lower than that of the traditional AuNS based ICTS systems (41.25 pg/mL). The limit of detection for AFB1 in rice extract was achieved at 0.32 pg/mL. In summary, AuNFs are a novel probe that exhibited excellent sensitivity in the ICTS system and could be used for ultrasensitive detection of other analytes in food safety monitoring, and even medical diagnostics.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Nanchang University, 235 Nanjing East Road, Nanchang 330047, PR China; Jiangxi-OAI Joint Research Institute, Nanchang University, 235 Nanjing East Road, Nanchang 330047, PR China.
authors.forename: Yanwei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Nanchang University, 235 Nanjing East Road, Nanchang 330047, PR China; Jiangxi-OAI Joint Research Institute, Nanchang University, 235 Nanjing East Road, Nanchang 330047, PR China.
authors.forename: Meiling
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: Jiangxi-OAI Joint Research Institute, Nanchang University, 235 Nanjing East Road, Nanchang 330047, PR China.
authors.forename: Yanping
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Nanchang University, 235 Nanjing East Road, Nanchang 330047, PR China; Jiangxi-OAI Joint Research Institute, Nanchang University, 235 Nanjing East Road, Nanchang 330047, PR China.
authors.forename: Zhibing
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Nanchang University, 235 Nanjing East Road, Nanchang 330047, PR China; Jiangxi-OAI Joint Research Institute, Nanchang University, 235 Nanjing East Road, Nanchang 330047, PR China.
authors.forename: Mei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Nanchang University, 235 Nanjing East Road, Nanchang 330047, PR China; Jiangxi-OAI Joint Research Institute, Nanchang University, 235 Nanjing East Road, Nanchang 330047, PR China.
authors.forename: Hongwei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Nanchang University, 235 Nanjing East Road, Nanchang 330047, PR China; Jiangxi-OAI Joint Research Institute, Nanchang University, 235 Nanjing East Road, Nanchang 330047, PR China. Electronic address: yhxiongchen@163.com.
authors.forename: Yonghua
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xiong
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Nanchang University, 235 Nanjing East Road, Nanchang 330047, PR China; Jiangxi-OAI Joint Research Institute, Nanchang University, 235 Nanjing East Road, Nanchang 330047, PR China. Electronic address: xuyang1951@163.com.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D016604:Aflatoxin B1 / Q000032:analysis* / Q000276:immunology; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology; D002846:Chromatography, Affinity / Q000295:instrumentation; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D057230:Limit of Detection; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry*; D012275:Oryza / Q000737:chemistry*; D011934:Reagent Strips
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D011934:Reagent Strips; D006046:Gold; D016604:Aflatoxin B1
keywords: Aflatoxin B(1); Gold nanoflower; Immunochromatographic test strips