Applications of gold nanoparticles in virus detection

Draz, Mohamed Shehata; Shafiee, Hadi

Nonetheless, the reusability of AuNPs in virus detection is limited to electrical and electrochemical assays, in which the main function of AuNPs is limited to enhancing the performance of the modified electrodes [68, [70] [71] [72] [73] [75] [76] [77] [78] . The long-term stability of AuNPs is reported and well investigated in numerous studies. However, their conjugates to different biomolecules (i.e., DNA, RNA, antibody, enzymes) are sensitive to storage time and conditions and the reusability of these conjugates is usually hampered by the loss of activity of surface molecules and irreversible aggregations. It was demonstrated that exposure to elevated temperatures, high salt concentrations, and reducing agents such as dithiothreitol (DTT), mercaptoethanol, and glutathione (commonly existing in biological fluids) results in the loss of stability and activity of AuNP-conjugates [9, 41, 43] . Thus, the development of new chemistries and novel conjugation strategies for the synthesis of stable AuNP-conjugates becomes very crucial for practical use of AuNPs in virus detection.