| Abstract: | In this work, a highly-sensitive and cost-effective detection approach based on the integration of tyramide signal amplification with a silver enhancement method (SEM-TSA) has been developed successfully. To demonstrate the feasibility of this approach, human IgG as a model target protein was employed and its concentration was assayed based on colorimetric detection. The analytical parameters including the concentrations of detection antibody, streptavidin-horseradish peroxidase, biotinyl tyramide, and streptavidin-nanogold were systematically optimized. The quantitative analysis was performed and a dynamic range was obtained from 0.18 ng/mL to 39.1 ng/mL, while no detectable images could be observed when the silver enhancement method (SEM) without TSA was used. The detection limits were 0.18 ng/mL and 21 ng/mL for SEM-TSA and SEM, respectively. The results showed that sensitivity of the presented colorimetric assay significantly increased by two-orders of magnitude. In addition, this method has been successfully applied in analyzing normal human serum samples. The results suggested the colorimetric detection method based on TSA-SEM has promising potential applications in biomedical analysis and clinical diagnosis. |
