Single-particle fibrinogen detection using platelet membrane-coated fluorescent polystyrene nanoparticles

Abstract

Fibrinogen participates in many physiological processes and is a biomarker for a variety of diseases. On this account, the development of a sensitive method for fibrinogen assay is particularly important. Herein, we demonstrate a new color-coded single-particle detection (SPD) method for fibrinogen detection by using platelet membrane-coated fluorescent polystyrene nanoparticles (PNPs) as the probes. Due to the specific interactions between fibrinogen and integrin receptors on platelet membranes, PNPs can form aggregated structures in the presence of fibrinogen. Therefore, colocalization events between green and red PNPs and the corresponding Pearson's correlation coefficient vary with the concentrations of fibrinogen. The sensing ability shows a linear range of 30–300 μg mL⁻¹ and a limit of detection (LOD) of 3.9 μg mL⁻¹ (11.3 nM) for fibrinogen detection. Moreover, it has been validated that the proposed biosensor can selectively detect fibrinogen and shows a good performance in real sample applications.