An integrated enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay system with an organic light-emitting diode and a charge-coupled device for fluorescence detection

A fluorescence detection system for a microfluidic device using an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) as the excitation light source and a charge-coupled device (CCD) as the photo detector was developed. The OLED was fabricated on a glass plate by photolithography and a vacuum deposition technique. The OLED produced a green luminescence with a peak emission at 512 nm and a half bandwidth of 55 nm. The maximum external quantum efficiency of the OLED was 7.2%. The emission intensity of the OLED at 10 mA/cm(2) was 13 μW (1.7 mW/cm(2)). The fluorescence detection system consisted of the OLED device, two band-pass filters, a five microchannel poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) microfluidic device and a linear CCD. The fluorescence detection system was successfully used in a flow-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay on a PDMS microfluidic device for the rapid determination of immunoglobulin A (IgA), a marker for human stress. The detection limit (S/N=3) for IgA was 16.5 ng/mL, and the sensitivity was sufficient for evaluating stress. Compared with the conventional 96-well microtiter plate assay, the analysis time and the amounts of reagent and sample solutions could all be reduced.     

A microfluidic device using a green organic light emitting diode as an integrated excitation source

A simply fabricated microfluidic device using a green organic light emitting diode (OLED) and thin film interference filter as integrated excitation source is presented and applied to fluorescence detection of proteins. A layer-by-layer compact system consisting of glass/PDMS microchip, pinhole, excitation filter and OLED is designed and equipped with a coaxial optical fiber and for fluorescence detection a 300 microm thick excitation filter is employed for eliminating nearly 80% of the unwanted light emitted by OLEDs which has overlaped with the fluorescence spectrum of the dyes. The distance between OLED illuminant and microchannels is limited to approximately 1 mm for sensitive detection. The achieved fluorescence signal of 300 microM Rhodamine 6G is about 13 times as high as that without the excitation filter and 3.5 times the result of a perpendicular detection structure. This system has been used for fluorescence detection of Rhodamine 6G, Alexa 532 and BSA conjugates in 4% linear polyacrymide (LPA) buffer (in 1 x TBE, pH 8.3) and 1.4 fmol and 35 fmol mass detection limits at 0.7 nl injection volume for Alexa and Rhodamine dye have been obtained, respectively.     

Fluorimetric study of the interaction between human serum albumin and quinolones-terbium complex and its application

A highly sensitive spectrofluorimetric method is proposed for determination of human serum albumin (HSA) and some quinolone drugs. Using quinolones-terbium (Tb3+) complex as a fluorescent probe, in the buffer solution of pH 7.8, HSA can remarkably enhance the fluorescence intensity of the quinolones-Tb3+ complex at 545 nm and the enhanced fluorescence intensity of Tb3+ ion is in proportion to the concentration of HSA and quinolone drugs. Optimum conditions for the determination of HSA were also investigated. The linear ranges and limits of detection are 8.0 x 10(-9) to 8.0 x 10(-8) mol L(-1), 4.20 x 10(-9) mol L(-1) (for HSA); 1.0 x 10(-6) to 4.0 x 10(-6) mol L(-1), 1.87 x 10(-8) mol L(-1) (for norfloxacin) and 1.0 x 10(-7) to 1.0 x 10(-6) mol L(-1), 4.82 x 10(-8) mol L(-1) (for enoxacine), respectively. This method is simple, practical and relatively free interference from coexisting substances, as well as much more sensitive than most of the existing assays.     

Detection of Urinary Albumin Using a “Turn-on” Fluorescent Probe with Aggregation-Induced Emission Characteristics

Human serum albumin (HSA) is a broadly used biomarker for the diagnosis of various diseases such as chronic kidney disease. Here, a fluorescent probe TC426 with aggregation-induced emission (AIE) characteristics is reported as a sensitive and specific probe for HSA. This probe is non-emissive in aqueous solution, meanwhile it shows bright fluorescence upon interacting with HSA, which makes it applicable in detecting HSA with a high signal to noise ratio. Besides, the fluorescence of TC426 exhibits a high linear correlation with the concentration of albumin in the range of microalbumin (20–200 mg/L), which has a significant importance for the early diagnosis of glomerulus related diseases. Compared with previously reported HSA probes TPE-4TA and BSPOTPE , TC426 shows comparable anti-interference ability towards creatinine and other major components in urine but is excited by a longer excitation wavelength at the visible light range. Finally, with the established assay, TC426 shows excellent performance in detecting HSA in real human urine, indicating its great potential in practical urinalysis.     

铽-依诺沙星-SDS敏化荧光猝灭法检测雷公藤红素

在pH 9.3的氨-氯化铵缓冲溶液中,铽(Ⅲ)能与依诺沙星、十二烷基硫酸钠(SDS)形成荧光配合物(λex=330 nm、λem=545 nm),SDS的存在能增强配合物的荧光强度。研究发现,在该反应体系中加入适量雷公藤红素溶液后,铽(Ⅲ)与依诺沙星络合物的激发、发射峰位置不变,但其荧光强度呈规律性下降。据此,建立了简单、快速、灵敏地测定雷公藤红素的荧光分析方法。雷公藤红素的浓度在5.2×10-6～8.4×10-5 mol/L范围内呈良好线性关系,方法的检出限为4.1×10-8 mol/L。     

Development of a micro dual beam fluorometric detector specific for microchip analysis of benzo[a]pyrene and benzo[k]fluoranthene in diesel exhaust particulate samples

We developed a device and some systems for detecting benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P) and benzo[k]fluoranthene (B[k]F). The device uses a UV light-emitting diode that emits light with a wavelength of 370 nm and a violet laser diode that emits light with a wavelength of 395 nm as excitation light sources. The detection method is based on the following observation: characteristic fluorescence is emitted from both B[a]P and B[k]F, with intensities up to 10 times greater than those from 22 other polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The excitation and emission wavelengths for fluorescence from B[a]P and B[k]F are 370 and 429 nm, and 395 and 429 nm, respectively. Further, we calculated their concentrations in diesel exhaust particles by means of two calibration curves determined using a mixture of 24 PAHs. The detection limits of the proposed device with a microchip are 5.58 microg L(-1) for B[a]P and 6.03 microg L(-1) for B[k]F. We applied this method to analyze B[a]P or B[k]F contained in three types of diesel exhaust particles, and the results agreed well with those obtained by liquid chromatography.     

High-sensitivity, disposable lab-on-a-chip with thin-film organic electronics for fluorescence detection

We report a high-sensitivity, disposable lab-on-a-chip with a thin-film organic light-emitting diode (OLED) excitation source and an organic photodiode (OPD) detector for on-chip fluorescence analysis. A NPB/Alq3 thin-film green OLED with an active area of 0.1 cm(2) was used as the excitation source, while a CuPC/C(60) thin-film OPD with 0.6 cm(2) active area was used as a photodetector. A novel cost-effective, cross-polarization scheme was used to filter out excitation light from a fluorescent dye emission spectrum. The excitation light from the OLED was linearly polarized and used to illuminate a microfluidic device containing a 1 microL volume of dye dissolved in ethanol. The detector was shielded by a second polarizer, oriented orthogonally to the excitation light, thus reducing the photocurrent due to excitation light leakage on the detector by approximately 25 dB. The fluorescence emission light, which is randomly polarized, is only attenuated by approximately 3 dB. Fluorescence signals from Rhodamine 6G (peak emission wavelength of 570 nm) and fluorescein (peak emission wavelength of 494 nm) dyes were measured in a dilution series in the microfluidic device with emission signals detected by the OPD. A limit-of-detection of 100 nM was demonstrated for Rhodamine 6G, and 10 microM for fluorescein. This suggests that an integrated microfluidic device, with an organic photodiode and LED excitation source and integrated polarizers, can be fabricated to realize a compact and economical lab-on-a-chip for point-of-care fluorescence assays.     

Direct fluorimetric determination of gamma-globulin in human serum with organic nanoparticle biosensor

This paper describes the development of organic fluorescence nanoparticles. The nanoparticles have a narrow, tunable, symmetric emission spectrum and a broad, continuous excitation spectrum. The nanoparticles have high room-temperature fluorescence quantum yields and long fluorescence lifetime. They are also photochemically stable and water-soluble. They were used as fluorescence biosensor in the determination of proteins, which was proved to be a simple, rapid and specific method. In comparison with single organic fluorephores, these nanoparticles are brighter, more stable against photobleaching, and do not suffer from blinking. Under optimal conditions, the linear ranges of the calibration curves were 0.1-4.5 microg ml(-1) for human serum albumin (HSA), 0.2-3.5 microg ml(-1) for bovine serum albumin (BSA) and 0.04-0.8 microg ml(-1) for gamma globulin (gamma-IgG), respectively. The detection limits were 0.062 microg ml(-1) for HSA, 0.036 microg ml(-1) for BSA and 0.022 microg ml(-1) for gamma-IgG, respectively. However, when the content of HSA is lower than 0.8 microg ml(-1), HSA makes little contribution to the fluorescence quenching. So, the method was applied to direct selective quantification of gamma-IgG in human blood serum without separation of HSA. The results were in good agreement with these reported by the hospital, indicating that the method presented here is not only sensitive, selective and simple, but also reliable and suitable for practical applications.     

Synchronous fluorescence determination of human serum albumin with methyl blue as a fluorescence probe

A new synchronous fluorescence scan analysis was developed for the determination of HSA with high sensitivity with a triphenylmethane acid dye methyl blue as a fluorescence probe. When Deltalambda=140 nm, the synchronous fluorescence peak of methyl blue is located at 323 nm and the synchronous fluorescence intensity of the methyl blue is significantly increased in the presence of trace HSA due to the complex formed between methyl blue and HSA at pH 4.1. Under optimal conditions, the calibration graphs are linear over the range 0.03-266.0 and 266.0-665.0 microg mL(-1) for human serum albumin (HSA). Limit of determination were 0.03 microg mL(-1) for HSA. In the detection of HSA in human serum samples, this method gave values close the clinical data got from hospital.     

高效液相色谱-荧光检测法测定血清中的犬尿氨酸

建立了高效液相色谱-荧光检测(HPLC-FLD)测定血清中犬尿氨酸(kynurenine,Kyn)含量的方法。采用Hypersil C8色谱柱(300 mm×6.0 mm,10 μm), 流动相为0.25 mol/L醋酸锌及50 mmol/L醋酸溶液(含3%乙腈),流速为1.5 mL/min, 荧光检测激发波长和发射波长分别为365 nm和480 nm。血清标本经5%(v/v)高氯酸溶液去除蛋白质后取上层清液直接进样, Kyn经流动相等度洗脱分离后,用FLD进行测定。研究结果表明Kyn保留时间约为8.3 min,线性范围为0.098～19.6 μmol/L,最低检出浓度为0.04 μmol/L,回收率为90.8%～96.2%,日内、日间测定的相对标准偏差均小于5%,苯丙氨酸、酪氨酸、色氨酸、5-羟色胺和犬尿喹啉酸等物质对犬尿氨酸的测定均无干扰。建立的方法简便、快速、灵敏、特异,适用于临床和科研应用。     

Kinetic study of cytochrome P450 3A4 activity on warfarin by capillary electrophoresis with fluorescence detection

The use of capillary electrophoresis (CE) for the determination of cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4) activity with R-warfarin as a substrate was investigated. CYP3A4 activity was determined by the quantitation of the product, 10-hydroxywarfarin, based on separation by CE. The separation conditions were as follows: capillary, 80.5 cm (75 microm i.d., 60 cm effective length); 50 mM sodium phosphate buffer (pH 6.5); 23 kV (90 microA) applied voltage; fluorescence detection, excitation wavelength, 310 nm, emission wavelength, 418 nm; capillary temperature, 37 degrees C. With the developed CYP3A4 activity assay and the Lineweaver-Burk equation, the Michaelis-Menten parameters Km and Vmax for formation of 10-hydroxywarfarin from R-warfarin in the presence of CYP3A4 were calculated to be 166 +/- 12 microM and 713 +/- 14 pmol/min/nmol (or 91.4 pmol/min/mg) CYP3A4, respectively.     

荧光猝灭法测定痕量稀土镧(Ⅲ)

采用荧光光谱法研究9-(3,5-二溴)水杨基荧光酮(DBSAF)与La3+的荧光性质,并进行了机理探讨。结果表明,在表面活性剂SDS存在下,La3+与DBSAF生成络合物使DBSAF的荧光猝灭。体系激发波长和发射波长分别为520和560nm,DBSAF的荧光强度差值与La3+的含量在1.6～800μg/L范围内呈良好线性关系,检出限为0.12μg/L。本方法用于铜合金试样中微量镧的测定,结果满意,并进行了加标回收实验。     

CdSe/ZnS quantum dots based fluorescence quenching method for determination of paeonol

Aqueous polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA)-capped CdSe/ZnS quantum dots were used as fluorescence probes for paeonol determination. Based on the fluorescence quenching of aqueous CdSe/ZnS quantum dots caused by paeonol, a simple, sensitive and rapid method was developed. Under the optimal conditions, with excitation and emission wavelengths at 350 nm and 620 nm, respectively, the calibration plot of F0-F with concentration of paeonol was linear in the range of 25.04-175.2 mg L(-1) with correlation coefficient of 0.9986. The limit of detection was 0.017 mg L(-1). The concentration of paeonol in paeonol ointment was determined by the proposed method and the result agreed with the claimed value. Furthermore, the possible fluorescence quenching mechanism was discussed.     

Highly sensitive fluorescence detection with Hg-lamp and photon counter in microchip capillary electrophoresis

A microchip capillary electrophoresis system with highly sensitive fluorescence detection is reported. The system was successfully constructed using an inverted fluorescence microscope, a highly sensitive photon counter, a photomultiplier tube (PMT) and a capillary electrophoresis microchip. This system can be applied to the fluorescence detection with various wavelengths (300-600 nm). Different fluorescence reagents require different excitation wavelengths. The wavelengths of UV light (300-385 nm), blue light (450-480 nm) and green light (530-550 nm) are employed to excite Titan yellow, fluorescence-5-isothiocyanate (FITC) and Rhodamine 6G, respectively. The detection limit (S/N = 3) of FITC is 7 × 10⁻¹⁰ M, which is 2-3 orders of magnitude lower than that obtained with the lamp-based fluorescence and PMT detection system and approaches the data gained by the laser-induced fluorescence detection. The linear relationship is excellent within the range of concentration 1.3 × 10⁻⁹ to 6.5 × 10⁻⁸ M FITC. It offers a new method to widen the application of the lamp-based fluorescence detection.     

Determination of ulifloxacin by terbium-sensitized fluorescence with second-order scattering and its applications.

This paper reports the determination of ulifloxacin (UFX) by terbium-sensitized fluorescence using a second-order scattering method. UFX and Tb(III) ion form a fluorescence complex in aqueous solution, and its maximum excitation and emission wavelengths are located at 273 and 545 nm, respectively. In optimum conditions, the relative intensity at 545 nm has a linear relationship to the concentration of UFX in the range of 2.0 x 10(-8) - 1.0 x 10(-5) mol L(-1) and the detection limit is 3.9 x 10(-9) mol L(-1). The proposed method was applied to the determination of UFX in spiked human serum and urine satisfactorily. The luminescence property of UFX is also discussed by comparing with norfloxacin (NFLX) and ofloxacin (OFLX).     

高效液相色谱-荧光检测法测定罂粟籽和火锅汤料中的罂粟碱

用所建立的高效液相色谱-荧光检测法测定了罂粟籽和火锅汤料中的罂粟碱。采用的色谱柱为RP-C18柱(250 mm×4.6 mm i.d.,5 μm);检测激发波长为285 nm,发射波长为355 nm;流动相为甲醇-0.02 mol/L乙酸铵(体积比为70∶30),流速0.8 mL/min。实验结果表明,罂粟碱的进样量为1×10-4~0.1 μg时其质量浓度与相应峰面积有良好的线性关系,最低检测限(以信噪比大于3计)达到0.02 ng。罂粟籽中罂粟碱的回收率为99.0%～100.8%。方法快速准确,简便灵敏,分离度高,能够满足有关食品中罂粟碱的检测要求。     

Determination of propranolol concentration in small volume of rat plasma by HPLC with fluorometric detection.

A simple, rapid and sensitive fluorescence high performance liquid chromatographic method was developed to determine propranolol concentration in the small volume of rat plasma without the solvent extraction step using pronethanol as the internal standard. The analysis was accomplished using a 5 microm CAPCELL PAK analytical cyano column at room temperature and a mobile phase consisted of 1% aqueous acetic acid containing 0.2% triethylamine and acetonitrile (65:35, v/v; pH 3.8). The flow-rate was kept at 0.5 mL/min and column effluent was monitored with a fluorescence detector at an excitation wavelength of 230 nm and an emission wavelength of 340 nm. Retention times for pronethalol and propranolol were 8.5 min and 10.5 min, respectively. Linear regressions for the standard curves were linear in the range 2-800 ng/mL, giving correlation coefficients above 0.998. The detection limit was 1.34 ng/mL. No analytical interference was observed from endogenous components in rat plasma. This simple and sensitive assay method was feasibly applied to the pharmacokinetic study of propranolol after intravenous administration of 2 mg/kg of propranolol to normal and carbon tetrachloride-induced liver cirrhotic rats.     

Determination of proteins at nanogram levels by their quenching effect on large particle scattering of colloidal silver chloride

A novel quantitative method for the determination of proteins in aqueous solutions has been based on the quenching of the resonance scattering light of colloidal silver chloride in the presence of proteins. The detection limits for eight kinds of proteins (BSA, HSA, egg albumin, human gamma-IgG,alpha-chymotrypsin, E. Coli. alpsase, myoglobin, alpha-casein) were at about 8 ng/mL; the linear ranges of the calibration curves were 10-400 ng/mL under optimal conditions,except for human gamma-IgG (20-400 ng/mL), myoglobin (10-300 ng/mL), and alpha-casein (10-300 ng/mL). Three wavelengths (398 nm, 475 nm, 499 nm) were all suitable for the determination and any acidity from pH 3.0 to pH 9.0 could be chosen. A few non-protein substances at high concentration levels interfered with this method, but this problem could simply be overcome by diluting the samples before the assay. Mechanism studies showed that the quenching effect of proteins on the scattering light of colloidal silver chloride was mainly due to the coagulation of AgCl particles retarded by protein. The method was employed for the determination of total protein in human serum with satisfactory results.     

基于内滤效应的信号增强型诺氟沙星荧光分析法

基于茜素红和卟啉之间的荧光内滤效应,成功构建了一种分子识别事件与信号报告空间分离的、高选择性的荧光增强型诺氟沙星分析方法。结果表明,无诺氟沙星时,茜素红在420 nm处有最大吸收,这和卟啉的最大激发波长有较大重叠,茜素红和卟啉之间因发生内滤效应导致卟啉的荧光被有效猝灭;而茜素红与诺氟沙星的配合物在523 nm处有最大吸收,和卟啉的最大激发波长不再重叠,即诺氟沙星与茜素红之间的荷移反应破坏了该内滤效应,导致卟啉荧光恢复,据此,可将茜素红的吸收信号转变为高灵敏的卟啉的荧光信号。在最佳实验条件下,诺氟沙星的质量浓度在10 ~ 450 mg?L-1范围内与体系的相对荧光强度(IF/I0F)呈线性关系(r2=0.987 8),检出限(S/N=3)为5 mg?L-1。方法选择性好,常见金属离子和药物辅料不干扰诺氟沙星的测定。该研究利用内滤效应,将灵敏度较低的诺氟沙星紫外可见分析法转换为灵敏度较高的荧光分析法,且无需将分子识别单元和信号转导单元共价连接,无需复杂的荧光探针合成工艺,为设计该类药物的荧光分析法提供了新思路。     

Determination of piceatannol in rat serum and liver microsomes: pharmacokinetics and phase I and II biotransformation

A method of analysis of piceatannol in biological fluids is necessary to study the kinetics of in vitro and in vivo metabolism and determine its concentration in foodstuffs. A novel and simple high-performance liquid chromatographic method was developed for simultaneous determination of piceatannol and products of its metabolism in rat serum and liver microsomes. Serum, or microsomes (0.1 mL), were precipitated with acetonitrile after addition of the internal standard, 4-methylumbelliferone. Separation was achieved on a phenomenex C(18) column (250 x 4.6 mm i.d., 5 microm) equipped with a phenomenex C(18) (4 x 3.0 mm i.d., 5 microm) guardcolumn with fluorescence excitation at 320 nm and emission at 420 nm. Separation was also possible with UV detection at 310 nm. The fluorescent calibration curves were linear ranging from 0.05 to 100 microg/mL. The mean extraction efficiency was >95%. Precision of the assay was <10% (coefficient of variation), and was within 10% at the limit of quantitation (0.05 ng/mL). Bias of the assay was lower than 7%. The limit of detection was 50 ng/mL for a 0.1 mL sample. The assay was applied successfully to the in vitro kinetic study of metabolism of piceatannol in rat liver microsomes and pharmacokinetics in rats. Three metabolites of piceatannol have been identified. .