Effects of Ions on Liposome-Immobilized Biosensors for the Detection of Alpha-Synuclein

It has been reported that certain ions in solution promote aggregation of proteins that form amyloid fibrils. To improve the sensitivity and specificity for detection of a trace amount of alpha-synuclein (aSyn) aggregates, a biomarker of Parkinson's disease (PD), the effect of ions in solution was investigated. In this study, NaCl was added to the target solution on a liposome-immobilized QCM sensors, and we demonstrated a five-fold increase in sensitivity compared to the previous results. The influence on shift in the QCM output due to salting out in serum measurement can also be reduced. We expect that these results enable the identification of aggregated aSyn from PD patients.