A large number of cardiovascular diseases have recently become of serious concern throughout the world. Herein, we developed a colorimetric probe based on functionalized silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) for the efficient sensing of cholesterol, an important cardiovascular risk marker. A simple sodium borohydride reduction method was employed to synthesize the AgNPs. The cholesterol oxidase (ChOx)-immobilized AgNPs interact with free cholesterol to produce H2O2 in proportion to the concentration of cholesterol, resulting in decreased AgNP absorbance (turn-off) at 400 nm due to electron transfer between the AgNPs and H2O2. The response of the sensor can also be observed visually. The absorption intensity of the AgNPs is recovered (turn-on) upon the addition of sodium dodecyl sulfate due to the inhibition of ChOx. This on-off mechanism was effectively applied to detect cholesterol within the concentration range 10-250 nM with a low detection limit of approximately 0.014 nM. Moreover, the selectivity of the sensor toward cholesterol was analyzed in the presence of a range of interfering organic substances such as glucose, urea, and sucrose. Finally, the potential of the proposed sensor was evaluated using real samples.
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