Microfluidic Chip for Multiplex Detection of Trace Chemical Contaminants Based on Magnetic Encoded Aptamer Probes and Multibranched DNA Nanostructures as Signal Tags

The development of multiplex assays to simultaneously monitor multiclass chemical contaminants that commonly coexist in foods, such as heavy metal ions, antibiotics, and estrogen residues, is gaining attention. Here, a microfluidic chip (MC)-based multianalysis method coupled with magnetic encoded aptamer probes was used for simultaneous detection of kanamycin, 17β-estradiol, and lead ion (Pb2+). Using this innovative strategy, the magnetic bead (MB)-based encoded probes labeled with aptamer hybrid chains were first used to selectively capture multiple targets, followed by generating single-stranded primers. The primers triggered a multibranched hybridization chain reaction (mHCR). Finally, three kinds of complementary strands (C-DNAs) with different lengths were hybridized with the arms of the mHCR products to form three types of multibranched DNA nanostructures. The decrement signals of C-DNAs were employed for qualification of targets. As the signal tags corresponded to different targets, the DNA nanostructures realized “one target for the decrease of massive C-DNAs” to improve sensitivity. The use of MB-based encoded probes could achieve magnetic separation to eliminate interference in the complex. The detection limits of this method were 1.76 × 10–4 nM (kanamycin), 1.18 × 10–4 nM (17β-estradiol), and 1.29 × 10–4 nM (lead ion). Furthermore, the MC platform is reusable and can be used for more than 4000 samples. The assay combining the MC with MB-based encoded probes with multibranched DNA signal tags offers a universal, reusable, and high-throughput detection platform for screening multiclass chemical contaminants in food samples with complex matrices.