Label-free detection of cardiac troponin-I with packaged thin-walled microbubble resonators

The measurement of cardiac troponin-I (cTnI) is widely used for diagnosing acute myocardial infarction (AMI) diseases because of its myocardial specificity. Packaged microbubble resonators with thin wall are utilized for label-free and specific detection of cTnI based on whispering gallery mode (WGM). This packaged structure can provide a good protection for the biosensor, improve the anti-interference ability of the sensor and reduce the system noise. The theoretical detection limit of the biosensors for cTnI in phosphate buffer saline (PBS) is 0.4 ag mL(-1) (0.02 a(M)). Furthermore, we demonstrated that the biosensors can be used to detect cTnI molecules in simulated serum and the theoretical detection limit is also 0.4 ag mL(-1) (0.02 a(M)). These results are much far below the clinical cut-off value and show a huge application potential for the detection of cardiac biomarkers of AMI.