Single‐Step Electrochemical Aptasensor for Melatonin Detection in Unprocessed Plasma
5 affiliations
- 1Department of Bioengineering McGill University Montreal Quebec Canada
- 2Department of Psychiatry Faculty of Medicine McGill University Montreal Quebec Canada
- 3Department of Physics McGill University Montreal Quebec Canada
- 4Beeta Biomed Clinical Innovation Platform Montreal General Hospital Montreal Quebec Canada
- 5Division of Experimental Medicine McGill University Montreal Quebec Canada
Abstract
Melatonin is a clinically relevant biomarker for diagnosing circadian rhythm sleep disorders (CRSDs) and monitoring circadian disruption associated with cancer, metabolic and cardiovascular disease, and psychiatric disorders. This work reports the implementation of an electrochemical aptamer‐based biosensor (E‐aptasensor) for direct reagentless detection of melatonin within physiological levels. The E‐aptasensor employs an optimized surface population of the aptamers in a conformational change‐based assay to detect melatonin over a broad dynamic range, including the picomolar physiological range. The behavior of the aptameric assay was validated both in bulk solution and in silico using fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) and molecular docking (MD). The E‐aptasensor achieves sensitive and selective melatonin detection, with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.75 pM and strong specificity against a panel of relevant interferents. Fitting the electrochemical responses to the Hill–Langmuir (HL) binding model yielded an apparent electrochemical dissociation constant (Kd, app) of 37 pM. Notably, the E‐aptasensor showed promising performance in unextracted human plasma, avoiding the extraction step typically required for immunoassays. These features support future development of rapid melatonin profiling for CRSD diagnosis and monitoring, as well as future point‐of‐care implementation. The single‐step E‐aptasensor offers a promising, faster, and simpler complement to gold‐standard techniques.
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BibTeX
@article{shieh2026singlestep,
title = {{Single‐Step Electrochemical Aptasensor for Melatonin Detection in Unprocessed Plasma}},
author = {Hamed Shieh and Arash Khorrami Jahromi and Fernando Gonzales‐Aste and Sajad Shiekh and Roozbeh Siavash Moakhar and Sahar Sadat Mahshid and Sara Mahshid},
journal = {Advanced Science},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.1002/advs.76882},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.76882},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Single‐Step Electrochemical Aptasensor for Melatonin Detection in Unprocessed Plasma
AU - Hamed Shieh
AU - Arash Khorrami Jahromi
AU - Fernando Gonzales‐Aste
AU - Sajad Shiekh
AU - Roozbeh Siavash Moakhar
AU - Sahar Sadat Mahshid
AU - Sara Mahshid
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/04
JO - Advanced Science
DO - 10.1002/advs.76882
UR - https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.76882
AB - Melatonin is a clinically relevant biomarker for diagnosing circadian rhythm sleep disorders (CRSDs) and monitoring circadian disruption associated with cancer, metabolic and cardiovascular disease, and psychiatric disorders. This work reports the implementation of an electrochemical aptamer‐based biosensor (E‐aptasensor) for direct reagentless detection of melatonin within physiological levels. The E‐aptasensor employs an optimized surface population of the aptamers in a conformational change‐based assay to detect melatonin over a broad dynamic range, including the picomolar physiological range. The behavior of the aptameric assay was validated both in bulk solution and in silico using fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) and molecular docking (MD). The E‐aptasensor achieves sensitive and selective melatonin detection, with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.75 pM and strong specificity against a panel of relevant interferents. Fitting the electrochemical responses to the Hill–Langmuir (HL) binding model yielded an apparent electrochemical dissociation constant (Kd, app) of 37 pM. Notably, the E‐aptasensor showed promising performance in unextracted human plasma, avoiding the extraction step typically required for immunoassays. These features support future development of rapid melatonin profiling for CRSD diagnosis and monitoring, as well as future point‐of‐care implementation. The single‐step E‐aptasensor offers a promising, faster, and simpler complement to gold‐standard techniques.
SN - 2198-3844
ER -