Nanoparticles application in high sensitive aptasensor design

In an effort to achieve high sensitive and selective detection approaches, numerous materials are currently being explored for their application in sensing systems. Nanomaterials have become one of the most interesting sensing materials. The sensitivity of a nanosensing approach is dependent on the capacity of nanomaterials to transduce the target binding process to an enhanced detectable signal, while the selectivity is achieved by considering the binding affinity and specificity of recognition elements to their target. It is believed that nucleic acids, especially aptamers, are versatile tools for target recognition and analyte detection in biological samples. This review discusses the different aptamer-based sensing strategies that have employed various nanomaterials, their advantages and the challenges that are to be overcome. In addition, the review focuses on recent progress in the development of nanomaterialbased aptasensors, and investigating those nanomaterials which are the most suitable ones for highly sensitive nanosensor design. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.