Voltammetric kanamycin aptasensor based on the use of thionine incorporated into Au@Pt core-shell nanoparticles.

A signal-on aptasensor is described for the voltammetric determination of kanamycin (KANA). Au@Pt core-shell nanoparticles with large surface and good electrical conductivity were synthetized and act as both a conductive material and as the carrier for complementary strands (CS2) and thionine (TH). In the presence of KANA, the electrochemical response of TH changes due to hybridization between CS1 immobilized on the electrode and the Au@Pt-CS2/TH system. The peak current increases linearly with the logarithm of the KANA concentration in the range from 1 pM to 1 μM, and the limit of detection is 0.16 pM. The sensor was characterized in terms of selectivity, reproducibility and stability, and satisfactory results were obtained. It was also utilized for the determination of KANA in (spiked) chicken samples. The recoveries (95.8-103.2%) demonstrate the potential of the method for KANA detection in real samples. Graphical abstract A signal-on aptasensor for kanamycin (KANA) was developed by using Au@Pt core-shell nanoparticles as nanocarrier for probe aptamer and as a sensing probe.