Three-dimensional mesoporous gold film to enhance the sensitivity of electrochemical detection

Cell-cell and cell-extracellular matrix (ECM) adhesion are fundamental and important in the development of a cell-based chip. In this study, a novel, simple, rapid, and one-step technique was developed for the fabrication of a uniform three-dimensional mesoporous gold thin film (MPGF) onto a gold (Au) coated glass plate based on an electrochemical deposition method. Scanning electron microscopy images demonstrated that the resulting MPGF electrode had uniformly distributed pores with diameters of about 20 nm. The cyclic voltammetric behavior of Fe(CN)(6)](4-/3-) coupled onto MPGF and Au electrodes demonstrated that the MPGF electrode had a higher electrocatalytic sensitivity and reversibility than the bare Au electrode. The Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) sequence containing the peptide was immobilized on the MPGF and bare Au substrates. HeLa cancer cells were then cultured on the RGD peptide layer. The successful immobilization of the peptide and cells was confirmed by atomic force microscopy. The cell proliferation and viability were evaluated by cyclic voltammetry and Trypan blue dyeing assay. These results indicated that the RGD/MPGF modified electrodes showed an electrochemical sensitivity in the detection of cancer cells which is approximately three times higher, especially at low cell density, than RGD/Au electrodes. This much improved sensitivity of the MPGF modified electrode demonstrates the potential for the fabrication of a highly sensitive and low-cost cell-based chip for rapid cancer detection.