The association of amyloid beta (A beta) peptide and its ordered aggregates with the onset of Alzheimer's disease raises the rational use as biomarker for therapeutic and diagnostic. However, due to the heterogeneity among aggregates and relatively low concentration at the physiological conditions, the fast and sensitive detection of the A beta aggregates remains technical challenges. In this work, we develop a label-free method for probing the hydration dynamics of collective A beta aggregates in liquids by using terahertz spectroscopy. A beta aggregates-containing water nanodroplets provide an aqueous confinement environment for improving signal-to-noise ratio of terahertz response. The integration of a metamaterial sensor and nanoconfined droplets further extremely enhances the sensitivity and enables to detect 1 nM A beta aggregates in a buffer solution. This novel development offers a valuable toolkit towards bioanalytical applications in neurobiology but also paves the way for tracing the ultrafast dynamic biological process in fundamental science.
[1]Chinese Acad Sci, Shanghai Inst Appl Phys, Shanghai 201800, Peoples R China.
[2]Chinese Acad Sci, Shanghai Adv Res Inst, Zhangjiang Lab, Shanghai Synchrotron Radiat Facil, Shanghai 201203, Peoples R China.
[3]Natl Innovat Inst Def Technol, Adv Interdisciplinary Technol Res Ctr, Beijing 100071, Peoples R China.
[4]Shanghai Univ Med & Hlth Sci, Natl Engn Res Ctr Nanotechnol, Shanghai 201318, Peoples R China.
[5]Univ Chinese Acad Sci, Beijing 100049, Peoples R China.
[6]Shanghai Inst Technol, Coll Sci, Shanghai 201418, Peoples R China.
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