Ultra-sensitive detection of lead ion test strips

Zeng Lingwen's research group at Guangzhou Institute of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, used a lead ion-specific DNAzyme as a molecular recognition element to construct a non-enzymatic signal amplification test strip that can be used for ultrasensitive detection of lead ions. The principle is that in the presence of lead ions, the substrate strand of the cleaved DNAzyme initiates a series of DNA self-assembly processes, thereby achieving signal amplification. The related results were published in the "Chemical Newsletter".

According to reports, lead ions are a major environmental pollutant that is carcinogenic and can cause great harm to human health and the ecological environment. The traditional detection methods are mainly chromatographic and mass spectrometry technologies, but these methods are cumbersome to operate and require expensive instruments, thus limiting their wide application.

The test strips used by the Zeng Wenwen team have high sensitivity and can detect 10 pM of lead ions. This value is far below the maximum allowable amount of lead in drinking water of 72nM as stipulated by the US Environmental Protection Agency.

According to industry experts, the non-enzymatic signal amplification test strip constructed by the team is easy to operate and does not require the use of testing instruments. It provides an effective means for the rapid and sensitive detection of heavy metal lead pollution in the environment and reduces the cost of testing. It has important application value in the field of heavy metal detection.

The study was funded by the National Major Scientific Research Project.