As a significant Alzheimer’s
disease (AD)-specific biomarker,
the examination of brain-derived tau (BD-tau) is significant in terms
of the diagnosis and differentiation of neurological disorders. In
this research, sea urchin-like MoSe2 microspheres were
synthesized by hydrothermal synthesis, revealing significant SERS
activity, and the enhancement factor (EF) reached 1.44 × 107. The remarkable EF was mainly ascribed to the (i) charge
transfer between MoSe2 and MB, (ii) MB molecule’s
resonance effect, and (iii) molecular enrichment of porous structures.
Through an aptamer-antibody sandwich method, we prepared a BD-tau
SERS detection platform based on sea urchin-like MoSe2 microspheres.
The liner range was 0.05–200.00 pM with a limit of detection
(LOD) as low as 0.028 pM. Besides, the developed detection platform
demonstrated excellent selectivity and enabled early diagnosis of
AD patients. In general, the MoSe2 SERS detection platform
can well detect the concentration of BD-tau in mouse plasma samples,
showing great potential in specific recognition of AD among neurodegenerative
diseases.