Development of a thermosensitive molecularly imprinted polymer resonance light scattering sensor for rapid and highly selective detection of hepatitis A virus in vitro

In this study, a thermosensitive imprinted polymer coating SiO 2 was developed for a resonance light scattering (RLS) thermosensitive virus-affinity sensor, which exhibited high selectivity for virus monitoring. In this sensor, N -isopropylacrylamide was a temperature-sensitive element. The recognition performance of the nanosensor for viruses was regulated by temperature control for the specific capture of the target virus at 40   °C, resulting in the increase of RLS intensity and its release at 20   °C. Moreover, the RLS intensity of the nanosensor significantly increased within 30   min. Accordingly, a very good detection limit of 1.1   pmol   L −1 was obtained. The nanosensor was successfully used to detect the additional hepatitis A virus from a dilution of human serum, and recoveries in the range of 90.8% to 108.3% were attained at three spiking levels of viruses. Overall, this study addressed the problems of high nonspecific adsorption and long duration of detection process. Furthermore, a facile, rapid, and efficient tool for virus detection was provided.