DNA Aptamer Integrated Hydrogel Nanocomposites on Screen Printed Gold Electrodes for Point-of-Care Detection of Testosterone in Human Serum.

This work describes the development and evaluation of a novel electrochemical aptasensor for testosterone detection. The sensor utilizes a specifically designed DNA immobilized on a screen-printed gold electrode (SPGE) modified with a conductive hydrogel and gold nanoparticles (HG/NP) composite. The aptasensor exhibited a dose-dependent response to testosterone (0.05 to 50 ng/mL) with a detection limit of 0.14 ng/mL and a good sensitivity of 0.23 μA ng mL cm. The sensor displayed excellent selectivity towards testosterone compared to structurally similar steroid hormones. Importantly, the incorporation of HG/NP not only improved the sensor's conductivity but also acted as an antifouling layer, minimizing signal interference from non-specific biomolecule interactions in complex biological samples like human serum. The results obtained from the aptasensor showed good correlation with a standard ELISA method, demonstrating its effectiveness in real-world scenarios.