Design strategies, current applications and future perspective of aptasensors for neurological disease biomarkers

The increasing trend in the incidence of neurological disease (NDs) cases is a major challenge for societies. The aggregation of misfolding some proteins can cause neurological disorders in the brain. Early detection of the NDs plays a critical, because prolongs in the diagnostic process will lead to delayed initiation of treatment procedures, other diseases affecting the central nervous system will reduce the effectiveness of the treatment. Early detection of the NDs can be achieved by aptasensors that are used aptamers as biorecognition elements due to their unique selective, sensitive, and cost-effective properties. In this review, the recent progress on aptasensors for NDs biomarkers was provided in terms of the aptamers, construction principles of aptasensors, signal transduction methods, performance properties, applications, and advantages/limitations. In addition, appropriate aptamer selection methods and characterization steps are described. Moreover, future aspects are discussed for further research for developing novel aptamers and aptasensors in clinical diagnostics. (C) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.