Molecularly Imprinted Polymers and Surface Imprinted Polymers Based Electrochemical Biosensor for Infectious Diseases

Abstract

Owing to their merits of simple, fast, sensitive, and low cost, electrochemical biosensors have been widely used for the diagnosis of infectious diseases. As a critical element, the receptor determines the selectivity, stability, and accuracy of the electrochemical biosensors. Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) and surface imprinted polymers (SIPs) have great potential to be robust artificial receptors. Therefore, extensive studies have been reported to develop MIPs/SIPs for the detection of infectious diseases with high selectivity and reliability. In this review, we discuss mechanisms of recognition events between imprinted polymers with different biomarkers, such as signaling molecules, microbial toxins, viruses, and bacterial and fungal cells. Then, various preparation methods of MIPs/SIPs for electrochemical biosensors are summarized. Especially, the methods of electropolymerization and micro-contact imprinting are emphasized. Furthermore, applications of MIPs/SIPs based electrochemical biosensors for infectious disease detection are highlighted. At last, challenges and perspectives are discussed.

Keywords: biomarkers for infectious diseases; electrochemical biosensor; molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs); surface imprinted polymers (SIPs).

Figure 1

Various receptors for electrochemical biosensors applied in infectious diseases biomarker detection and size distribution covering all the analytes in this review, including small molecular, toxin protein, virus, bacteria, and fungal cells as plotted on a nanometer scale chart.

Figure 2

Preparation procedures of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) and surface imprinted polymers (SIPs) on an electrode and various interactions of template (analyte) and MIPs/SIPs, (a) electrostatic interactions, (b) reversible covalent bonds, (c) van der Waals or hydrophobic interactions, (d) metal chelation, and (e) hydrogen bonds.

Figure 3

(A) Structural formulas of the d-arabitol template, 2,2′-bithiophene-5-boronic acid functional monomer, 3,3′-bithiophene crosslinker, and d-arabitol esterificated with three molecules of functional monomer. Reproduced from [18]—Published by the American Chemical Society. (B) Structural formulas of methacrylic acid (MAA) and 2,5-dimethyl-4-hydroxy-3(2H)-furanone (DMHF). Reproduced from [21]—Published by Elsevier B.V.

Figure 4

(A) Preparation process for virus sensitive super-aptamer hydrogels MIPs. Reproduced from [25]—Published by John Wiley and Sons. (B) Schematic diagram of cell-imprinted polymers for bacteria cells. Reproduced from [30]—Published by The Royal Society of Chemistry and [27]—Published by the American Chemical Society.

Figure 5

(A) Schematic preparation procedures for the artificial capture antibodies (cAbs), AFM images, and the corresponding height profiles of the cAbs. Reproduced from [55]—Published by The Royal Society of Chemistry. (B) Schematic preparation procedures for graphene oxide doped SIPs under UV light. Reproduced from [52]—Published by the American Chemical Society.

Figure 6

Schematic preparation procedures for three types of direct micro-contact imprinting (A) and indirect micro-contact imprinting (B). Reproduced from [26]—Published by Elsevier B.V.