ABSTRACT
The deadly global outbreak of coronavirus disease-2019(COVID-19)has forged an unrivaled threat to human civilization.Contemplating its profuse impact,initial risk management and therapies are needed,as well as rapid detection strategies alongside treatments with existing drugs or traditional treatments to provide better clinical support for critical patients.Conventional detection techniques have been considered but do not sufficiently meet the current challenges of effective COVID-19 diagnosis.Therefore,several modern techniques including point-of-care diagnosis with a biosensor,clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats(CRISPR)-associated proteins that function as nuclease(Cas)technology,next-generation sequencing,serological,digital,and imaging approaches have delivered improved and noteworthy success compared to that using traditional strategies.Conventional drug treatment,plasma therapy,and vaccine development are also ongoing.However,alternative medicines including Ayurveda,herbal drugs,homeopathy,and Unani have also been enlisted as prominent treat-ment strategies for developing herd immunity and physical defenses against COVID-19.All considered,this review can help develop rapid and simplified diagnostic strategies,as well as advanced evidence-based modern therapeutic approaches that will aid in combating the global pandemic.
ABSTRACT
Neurotransmitters, the small molecule chemical messenger responsible for nervous system regulation and cancontrol joy, fear, depression, insomnia, craving for carbohydrates, drugs, and alcohols. Variation in neurotransmitter levels is a characteristic manifestation of several neurological diseases. Accurate diagnosis of thesediseases caused due to an imbalance in neurotransmitter level followed by impaired transmission of signalsbetween neurons and other body parts remains a great challenge for the clinicians. Recent evidences reveal,artificial single-stranded nucleotides called ‘aptamer’ are widely used as biosensors, antibody substitutes,diagnostic agents, and for targeted therapy. These aptamers are superior candidate both for early detection anddiagnosis of many neurological disorders caused due to suboptimal level of neurotransmitters. Presently, noninvasive neurotransmitter detection by aptamer has been found to be an easy, fast, and cost-effective choice. Inaddition, increased specificity, stability, affinity, and reproducibility of aptamers, high throughput screening ofaptamer-based sensing platforms have been observed. Moreover, clinical applicability of aptamer has alsoproved to be efficacious, though still at a preliminary stage. Herein, we review salient features of aptamerbased sensing technology used for neurotransmitter detection particularly their chemical modifications,selection, assay development, immobilization, therapeutic efficiency, and stability for early diagnosis of diseases caused due to neurotransmitter imbalance.