Functionalized Carbon Nanotube - Modified ELISA for Early Detection of Heart Attack

A warning issue of heart attacks in young adults needs immediate attention lately. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is an easy and commonly used method for detecting early stages of heart attack. Cardiac troponin I (cTnI) is a responsible biomarker for acute myocardial infarction. However, the conventional ELISA system was only able to detect at 100 pM of cTnI. To improve the system, enhancements were introduced through the integration of functionalized carbon nanotube (fCNT) to amplify cTnI detection signals. By utilizing the advantage of fCNT, a noticeable improvement in results can be obtained. The detection limit was lowered down to an impressive 10 pM. Furthermore, the change of absorbance increased from 31.90% for conventional ELISA surge to 98.61 for modified ELISA system. This three-fold increase in sensitivity shows remarkable improvement through the introduction of fCNT in modified ELISA technique.