Sensitive electrochemiluminescence detection for CA15-3 based on immobilizing luminol on dendrimer functionalized ZnO nanorods.

In this study, we constructed a novel electrochemiluminescence (ECL) immunosensor for sensitive and selective detection of carbohydrate antigen 15-3 (CA15-3) by using polyamidoamine (PAMAM)-functionalized ZnO nanorods (ZNs-PAMAM) as carriers. PAMAM dendrimers with hyper-branched and three-dimensional structure were used as linked reagents for co-immobilization of luminol and CA15-3 detection antibody on the ZNs to prepare the signal probe. In addition, ZNs could hasten the decomposition of H2O2 to generate various reactive oxygen species (ROSs) which accelerated the ECL reaction of luminol with amplified ECL intensity. Compared with luminol in the detection solution, the ECL efficiencies of luminol could be improved by immobilizing luminol on the electrode due to the smaller distance between luminescence reagent and the electrode surface. Moreover, the electrodepositing gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) on the bare glass carbon electrode (GCE) with enhanced surface area could capture a large amount of primary anti-CA15-3 to improve the sensitivity of the immunosensor. Under the optimized experimental conditions, a wide linear range of 0.1-120 U mL(-1) was acquired with a relatively low detection limit of 0.033 U mL(-1) (S/N=3) for CA15-3.