Norepinephrine as new functional monomer for molecular imprinting: An applicative study for the optical sensing of cardiac biomarkers

• Published in: Biosensors & bioelectronics 2020-06, Vol.157, p.112161-112161, Article 112161
• Main Authors: Baldoneschi, V., Palladino, P., Banchini, M., Minunni, M., Scarano, S.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biomarkers - blood; Biosensing Techniques - methods; Epitope imprinted biosensors; Functional monomer; Humans; Molecular imprinting; Molecular Imprinting - methods; Norepinephrine - analogs & derivatives; Polymers - chemistry; Polynorepinephrine; Surface plasmon resonance; Surface Plasmon Resonance - methods; Troponin; Troponin I - blood
• ISSN: 0956-5663; 1873-4235
• DOI: 10.1016/j.bios.2020.112161

The continuous research for alternatives to antibody-based detection drove, in the last decades, the development of numerous strategies. Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) emerged thanks to the low-cost and long-term stability features, where the choice of natural functional monomer(s) represents the key step for efficient imprinting of biomolecules. The chemical structure of dopamine (DA), one of the most used natural functional monomers, provided the inspiration for this work. We wondered why norepinephrine (NE) that differs from dopamine only for an additional hydroxyl group was not investigated at all in biosensing applications. In fact, there is only one paper exploiting polynorepinephrine (PNE) in molecular recognition applications, taking advantage of molecular imprinting, but not for biosensing purposes. In contrast, hundreds of papers describe polydopamine-based sensors. Therefore, we firstly investigated how the additional hydroxyl group of NE could affect the properties of the resulting polymer, and how these properties could be exploited for biosensing applications. The results highlighted the reduced non-specific adsorption of proteins onto PNE with respect to dopamine polymer. Furthermore, as a case study, we successfully developed a PNE-based imprinted biosensor for the early detection of Troponin I, a crucial biomarker for heart failure, by coupling the MIP biosensor with surface plasmon resonance (SPR) detection. The results indicate the feasible use of imprinted PNE as synthetic receptor for biomolecules, opening new perspectives for this biopolymer, so far not considered, and encouraging further investigations on its potential application in biosensing. [Display omitted] •Molecular imprinting is a widely explored strategy to develop biosensors platforms.•Norepinephrine has not yet been investigated as functional monomer for biosensing.•Here we evaluated the surface properties of PNE and potential applications in MIPs.•A PNE-based MIP biosensor is for the first time reported for troponin I detection.•Promising results were obtained in terms of selectivity, affinity and sensitivity