An electrochemical aptasensor for methylamphetamine rapid detection by single-on mode based on competition with complementary DNA

Abstract A simple and rapid electrochemical sensing method with high sensitivity and specificity of aptamers was developed for the detection of methylamphetamine (MAMP). A short anti-MAMP thiolated aptamer (Apt) with a methylene blue (MB) probe at 3ʹ-end was immobilized on the surface of a gold electrode (MB-Apt-S/GE). The electrochemical signal appeared when MAMP presenting in the sample solution competed with cDNA for binding with MB-Apt-S. Under optimized conditions, the liner range of this signal-on electrochemical aptasensor for the detection of MAMP achieved from 1.0 to 10.0 nmol/L and 10.0–400 nmol/L. LOD 0.88 nmol/L were obtained. Satisfactory spiked recoveries of saliva and urine were also obtained. In this method, only 5 min were needed to incubate before the square wave voltammetry (SWV) analysis, which was much more rapid than other electrochemical sensors, leading to a bright and broad prospect for the detection of MAMP in biological sample. This method can be used for on-site rapid detection on special occasions, such as drug driving scenes, entertainment venues suspected of drug use, etc.