Electrochemical Amyloid-Based Biosensor for the Determination of Metal Ions

The interplay between metal ions and amyloids plays a significant role not only in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease but also in the development of application technologies for the synthesis of metal nanomaterials. In this study, we investigate the interplay between amyloids and heavy metal ions using screen-printed electrochemical sensor functionalized with amyloid fibrils. For this purpose, amyloid fibril-functionalized screen-printed electrochemical sensor was devised. Various heavy metal ions (e.g., palladium, mercury, copper, and cadmium) directly reacted with amyloid fibrils at different concentrations. In addition, molecular dynamics simulation was used to compare the individual binding energies between metal ions and amyloids, which was consistent with the results of the electrochemical analysis. We believe that amyloid functionalized electrochemical sensor is helpful to gain insight into the interaction between amyloids and heavy metal ions as well as the development of amyloid-metal ion application techniques. (C) 2019 The Electrochemical Society.