A Gold Nanoparticle-Based Cortisol Aptasensor for Non-Invasive Detection of Fish Stress
Tanaka, Yuki, Salleh, Nur Asinah binte Mohamed, Tan, Marie Ruoyun, Vij, Shubha, Wee, Caroline Lei, Sutarlie, Laura, and Su, Xiaodi (2024) A Gold Nanoparticle-Based Cortisol Aptasensor for Non-Invasive Detection of Fish Stress. Biomolecules, 14 (7). 818.
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Abstract
Cortisol is a key stress biomarker in humans and animals, including fishes. In aquafarming, stress monitoring using cortisol quantification can help to optimize aquaculture practices for welfare and productivity enhancement. However, most current methods for cortisol detection rely on invasive tissue sampling. In this work, we developed a gold nanoparticle (AuNP)-based cortisol sensor to address the demand of detecting picomolar ranges of cortisol from complex fish tank water matrices as a non-invasive alternative for more effective stress monitoring. We first identified a DNA aptamer with effective binding to cortisol and then conjugated the thiol-labelled aptamer to AuNPs together with a blocker molecule (CALNN) to form an Au-Apt-CALNN conjugate that is stable in fish tank water. The cortisol detection principle is based on magnesium chloride (MgCl<inf>2</inf>)-induced particle aggregation, where the cortisol-bound aptamer on the AuNPs folds into a tertiary structure and provides greater protection for Au-Apt-CALNN against MgCl<inf>2</inf>-induced aggregation due to steric stabilization. At an optimum MgCl<inf>2</inf> concentration, the differential stability of particles with and without cortisol binding offers a limit of detection (LOD) of 100 pM for cortisol within a 35 min reaction. The aptasensor has been validated on recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) fish tank water samples by the HPLC method and was able to detect changes in water cortisol induced by two different stress paradigms. This on-site deployable and non-invasive sensor offers opportunities for more efficient and real-time fish stress monitoring for the optimization of aquaculture practices.
| Item ID: | 86918 |
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| Item Type: | Article (Research - C1) |
| ISSN: | 2218-273X |
| Keywords: | aptamer, aptasensor, cortisol, fish stress, gold nanoparticle |
| Copyright Information: | © 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
| Date Deposited: | 12 Nov 2025 03:32 |
| FoR Codes: | 30 AGRICULTURAL, VETERINARY AND FOOD SCIENCES > 3005 Fisheries sciences > 300501 Aquaculture @ 50% 31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3106 Industrial biotechnology > 310604 Industrial biotechnology diagnostics (incl. biosensors) @ 50% |
| SEO Codes: | 10 ANIMAL PRODUCTION AND ANIMAL PRIMARY PRODUCTS > 1002 Fisheries - aquaculture > 100202 Aquaculture fin fish (excl. tuna) @ 100% |
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