Detection of carcinoembryonic antigen using functional magnetic and fluorescent nanoparticles in magnetic separators

We combined a sandwich immunoassay, anti-CEA/CEA/anti-CEA, with functional magnetic (~80 nm) and fluorescent (~180 nm) nanoparticles in magnetic separators to demonstrate a detection method for carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA). Determination of CEA in serum can be used in clinical diagnosis and monitoring of tumor-related diseases. The CEA concentrations in samples were deduced and determined based on the reference plot using the measured fluorescent intensity of sandwich nanoparticles from the sample. The linear range of CEA detection was from 18 ng/mL to 1.8 pg/mL. The detection limit of CEA was 1.8 pg/mL. In comparison with most other detection methods, this method had advantages of lower detection limit and wider linear range. The recovery was higher than 94%. The CEA concentrations of two serum samples were determined to be 9.0 and 55 ng/mL, which differed by 6.7% (9.6 ng/mL) and 9.1% (50 ng/mL) from the measurements of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), respectively. The analysis time can be reduced to one third of ELISA. This method has good potential for other biomarker detections and biochemical applications.     

New Spectrofluorimetric Method for Determination of Cephalosporins in Pharmaceutical Formulations

Simple, accurate and sensitive spectrofluorimetric method has been proposed for the determination of three cephalosporins, namely; cefixime (cefi), cephalexine (ceph), cefotaxime sodium (cefo) in pharmaceutical formulations. The method is based on a reaction between cephalosporins with 1, 2-naphthoquinone-4-sulfonic (NQS) in alkaline medium, at pH values of 12.0 for cefi and 13.0 for ceph and cefo to give highly fluorescent derivatives extracted with chloroform and subsequently measured at 600,580 and 580 nm after excitation at 520,455 and 490 nm for cefi, ceph and cefo respectively. The optimum experimental conditions have been studied. Beer’s law is obeyed over the concentrations of 10–35 ng/mL, 10–60 ng/mL and 20–45 ng/mL for cefi,ceph and cefo, respectively. The detection limits were 2.02 ng/mL, 2.09 ng/mL and 2.30 ng/mL for cefi, ceph and cefo, respectively, with a linear regression correlation coefficient of 0.9987, 0.9995 and 0.9991 and recoveries in range from 98.5-107.04, 95.17-101.00 and 95.00-109.55% for cefi, ceph and cefo, respectively. This method is simple and can be applied for the determination of cefi, ceph and cefo in pharmaceutical formulations in quality control laboratories.     

Conventional and First Derivative Synchronous Fluorometric Determination of Ethamsylate in Pharmaceutical Preparations and Biological Fluids. Application to Stability Studies

Two simple, accurate and highly sensitive spectrofluorometric methods were developed for the determination of ethamsylate (ETM). Method I is based on measuring the native fluorescence of ethamsylate in water at 354 nm after excitation at 302 nm. The calibration plot was rectilinear over the range of 0.05–1 μg/mL for ETM with limits of detection and quantitation of 7.9 and 26 ng/mL, respectively. Method II involved synchronous and first derivative synchronous fluorometric methods for the simultaneous determination of ethamsylate (ETM) and hydroquinone (HQ) which is considered as an impurity and/or acidic degradation product. The synchronous fluorescence of both the drug and its impurity were measured in methanol at Δ λ of 40 nm. The peak amplitudes (¹D) were estimated at 293.85 or 334.17 nm for ETM and at 309.05 nm for HQ. Good linearity was obtained for ETM over the ranges 0.1–1.4 μg/mL and 0.1–1.0 μg/mL at 293.85 and 334.17 nm, respectively. For HQ, the calibration plot was rectilinear over the range of 0.01–0.14 μg/mL at 309.05 nm. Limits of detection were 20, 2.01 ng/mL and limits of quantitation were 60, 6.7 ng/mL for ETM and HQ by method II, respectively. Both methods were successfully applied to commercial ampoules and tablets. The results were in good agreement with those obtained by the reference method. Method I was utilized to study the stability of ETM and its degradation kinetics using peroxide. The apparent first-order rate constant, half-life times and activation energy of the degradation process were calculated. Method I was further extended to the in-vitro and in-vivo determination of ETM in spiked and real plasma samples. The mean% recoveries were 99.57 ± 3.85 and 89.39 ± 5.93 for spiked and real human plasma, respectively.     

Sensitive Spectrofluorimetric Method of Analysis for Venlafaxine in Spiked Rat Plasma and Formulations

A simple, sensitive, accurate and affordable spectrofluorimetric method was developed and validated for the determination of venlafaxine, both in marketed preparations as well as in spiked rat plasma. Venlafaxine depicted strong native fluorescence property in freshly prepared 0.05 M sulphuric acid. The excitation and emission wavelengths were found to be 237.0 nm and 301.0 respectively. Effect of variations in pH, temperature, concentration, change in molarities of different solvents, and effect of excipients were studied. The calibration graph in case of dosage forms and in spiked plasma was found to be rectilinear in the concentrations of 15–600 ng/ml and 20–650 ng/ml respectively. The intra- day and inter-day accuracy measurements of VEN in formulations ranged from 0.29 to 0.44% and 0.27 to 0.49%, respectively. The intra-day and inter-day accuracy in measurement of VEN in plasma ranged from 0.062 to 2.26% and 0.52 to 2.32%, respectively. The limit of detection (LOD) was found to be 6.0 ng/mL and 4.0 ng/mL in plasma and formulations respectively. The mean recovery of VEN from plasma was 97.46.     

Simultaneous Determination of Xanthopterin and Isoxanthopterin in Human Urine by Synchronous Fluorescence Spectroscopy

A simple, rapid, sensitive and selective method for simultaneously determining xanthopterin and isoxanthopterin content in human urine has been developed using synchronous fluorescence spectroscopy based on their intrinsic fluorescence. The synchronous fluorescence spectra were obtained with Δλ = 65 nm in a pH 8.5 KH₂PO₄-NaOH buffer solution. The detected wavelengths of quantitative analysis were set at 410 nm for xanthopterin and 325 nm for isoxanthopterin, respectively. Pretreatment of urine samples only was filtrated through a 0.45 μm membrane filter, which was free from the tedious separation procedures. Under optimized conditions, the limits of detection (LOD) were 0.94 ng/mL for xanthopterin and 0.48 ng/mL for isoxanthopterin. The recoveries ranged from 88.0% to 103.8 % for healthy and cancer urine samples, with coefficient of variation between 2.09% and 7.06%. The proposed method has been successfully applied to the simultaneous analysis for xanthopterin and isoxanthopterin in human urine. The results showed that the average level of isoxanthopterin was significantly elevated in urine excreted by stomach cancer patients (P < 0.01), while no significant change of xanthopterin level was found between stomach cancer patients and healthy individuals. This potentially indicates that an increase in amounts of isoxanthopterin can be associated with the presence of stomach cancer.     

Study on the Interaction Between Verapamil Hydrochloride and Eosin Y by Absorption,Fluorescence and Resonance Rayleigh Scattering Spectra and Their Analytical Applications

In pH 2.8~3.6 HCl-NaAc buffer solution, eosin Y (EY) can react with verapamil hydrochloride(VP) to form a 1:1 ion-association complex, which not only causes the change of absorption spectra and the quenching of fluorescence, but also results in the great enhancement of resonance Rayleigh scattering (RRS). Furthermore, a new RRS spectrum with the maximum wavelength at 324 nm will appear. In this work, the spectral characteristics of absorption, fluorescence and resonance Rayleigh scattering spectra, the optimum conditions for the reaction, the influencing factors and the analytical properties have been investigated. Thereby, a sensitive, simple, rapid and new method for the determination of VP by using eosin Y as a probe has been developed. The detection limit is 0.95 ng/mL for RRS method, 6.4 ng/mL for fluorophotometry and 0.18 μg/mL for spectrophotometric method. The absorbance, RRS and fluorescence intensity is proportional to the concentration of VP in the range of 0.6036~4.0 μg/mL, 0.0032~4.5 μg/mL and 0.0213~4.0 μg/mL, respectively. The effects of the reaction of verapamil hydrochloride and eosin Y on the absorption, fluorescence and resonance Rayleigh scattering spectra have been investigated. Meanwhile, the influences of coexisting substances are tested by RRS method and the results show that this method can be satisfactorily applied to the determination of VP in tablet and human serum samples. The composition and structure of the ion-association complex and the reaction mechanism are discussed. Moreover, the energy transfer among absorption, fluorescence and RRS was investigated briefly in this work.     

Production of anti-fullerene C<Subscript>60</Subscript> polyclonal antibodies and study of their interaction with a conjugated form of fullerene

The aim of this study was to produce anti-fullerene C₆₀ antibodies for the development of detection systems for fullerene C₆₀ derivatives. To produce anti-fullerene C₆₀ antibodies, conjugates of the fullerene C₆₀ carboxylic derivative with thyroglobulin, soybean trypsin inhibitor, and bovine serum albumin were synthesized by carbodiimide activation and characterized. Immunization of rabbits by the conjugates led to the production of polyclonal anti-fullerene antibodies. The specificity of the immune response to fullerene was investigated. Indirect competitive immunoenzyme assay was developed for the determination of conjugated fullerene with detection limits of 0.04 ng/mL (calculated for coupled C₆₀) and 0.4 ng/mL (accordingly to total fullerene–protein concentration).     

Ratio-metric sensor to detect riboflavin via fluorescence resonance energy transfer with ultrahigh sensitivity

In this paper, a novel fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) ration-metric fluorescent probe based on heteroatom N, S doped carbon dots (N, S-CDs) was developed to determine riboflavin in aqueous solutions. The ratio of two emission intensities at different wavelengths is applied to determine the concentration of riboflavin (RF). This method is more effective in reducing the background interference and fluctuation of diverse conditions. Therefore, this probe obtains high sensitivity with a low limit of detection (LOD) of 1.9 nM (0.7 ng/ml) which is in the highest level of all riboflavin detection approaches and higher than single wavelength intensity detection (1.9 μM). In addition, this sensor has a high selectivity of detecting riboflavin in deionized water (pH=7) with other biochemical like amino acids. Moreover, riboflavin in aqueous solution is very sensitive to sunlight and can be degraded to lumiflavin, which is toxic. Because the N, S doped carbon dots cannot serve as an energy donor for N, S doped carbon dots and lumiflavin system, this system makes it easy to determine whether the riboflavin is degraded or not, which is first to be reported. This platform may provide possibilities to build a new and facile fluorescence resonance energy transfer based sensor to detect analytes and metamorphous analytes in aqueous solution.     

Ionic liquids-doped organic-inorganic hybrid film for electrochemical immunoassay for hepatitis B surface antigen

A new mediator-free amperometric immunoassay for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) in human serum was designed by means of immobilizing horseradish peroxidase-hepatitis B surface antibodies conjugates (HRP-HBsAb) on ionic liquids-doped organic-inorganic hybrid film. The composite film including magnetic nanogold particles and nanoalumina particles provides a friendly microenvironment for the immobilization of biomolecules. The presence of ionic liquids enhances the electron communication between the immobilized biomolecules and the base electrode and improves the sensitivity of the electrochemical immunoassay. With a non-competitive immunoassay format, the formation of the immunocomplex between the immobilized HRP-HBsAb and HBsAg in sample solution exhibited a barrier of direct electrical communication between the immobilized HRP and the base electrode and changed the bioelectrocatalytic properties of the immobilized HRP towards H₂O₂ in the detection solution. Under optimal conditions, the developed immunosensors displayed a good current response in a dynamic range from 1.2 to 430 ng/mL with a limit of detection of 0.3 ng/mL HBsAg (at 3s). The proposed immunosensors have good precision, high sensitivity, acceptable stability, and reproducibility and could be used for the HBsAg detection in human serum with consistent results in comparison with those obtained by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method.     

Establishment and Clinical Application of a Highly Sensitive Time-Resolved Fluorescence Immunoassay for Tumor-Associated Trypsinogen-2

To establish a rapid and highly sensitive assay for tumor-associated trypsinogen-2 (TAT-2) based on the time-resolved fluorescence immunoassay (TRFIA) and evaluate its potential clinical value in patients with lung cancer. The double-antibody sandwich method was used in detecting TAT-2 antigen concentrations, and two types of TAT-2 antibodies (coating antibodies and Eu³⁺ labeled antibodies) were used. A TAT-2–TRFIA method was then established, evaluated, and used in detecting the serum TAT-2 levels of healthy subjects and patients with lung cancer. The linear range of the TAT-2–TRFIA method was 1.53–300 ng/mL, the intra-assay coefficient of variation (CV) were between 1.67% and 8.42%, and the inter-assay CV were between 4.29% and 11.44%. The recovery rates of TAT-2–TRFIA were between 99.17% and 107.06%. The cross-reactivities of trypsin and T-cell immunoglobulin mucin 3 were 0.02% and 0.82%, respectively. The serum TAT-2 levels of patients with lung cancer were higher than those of healthy subjects (P?<?0.001). Combined with TAT-2, the sensitivity and specificity of CEA and CA-125 for lung cancer improved significantly.

Conclusion: We successfully established a highly sensitive TAT-2–TRFIA method, which was able to facilitate the timely diagnosis of lung cancer.

     

Spectrofluorimetric Determination of Aliskiren in Tablets and Spiked Human Plasma through Derivatization with Dansyl Chloride

A simple and sensitive method has been developed and validated for the determination of aliskiren (ALS) in its dosage forms and spiked plasma. The method was based on the reaction of the drug with dansyl chloride in the presence of bicarbonate solution of pH 10.5 to give a highly fluorescent derivative which was measured at 501 nm with excitition at 378 nm in dichloromethane. Different experimental parameters affecting the development of the method and stability were carefully studied and optimized. The calibration curves were linear over the concentration ranges of 100–700 and 50–150 ng/mL for standard solution and plasma, respectively. The limits of detection were 27.52 ng/mL in standard solution, 4.91 ng/mL in plasma. The developed method was successfully applied to the analysis the drug in the commercial tablets and spiked plasma samples. The mean recovery of ALS from tablets and plasma was 100.10 and 97.81%, respectively. A proposal of the reaction pathway was presented.     

Determination of Tetracaine Hydrochloride by Fluorescence Quenching Method with Some Aromatic Amino Acids as Probes

A novel fluorescence quenching method for the determination of tetracaine hydrochloride (TA·HCl) concentration with some aromatic amino acids as fluorescence probe has been developed. In pH 6.3 acidic medium, tryptophane (Trp), tyrosine (Tyr) or phenylalanine (Phe) can react with tetracaine hydrochloride to form an ion-association complex by electrostatic attraction, aromatic stacking interaction and Van der Waals’ force, which lead to fluorescence quenching of above amino acids. The maximum fluorescence excitation and emission wavelengths of them are located at 278, 274, 258 nm and 354, 306, 285 nm, respectively. The relative fluorescence intensity (F ₀/F) is proportional to the TA·HCl concentration in certain range. The linear ranges and detection limits are 1.2–5.0 μg/mL and 0.37 μg/mL for Tyr-TA·HCl system, 1.3–6.0 μg/mL and 0.38 μg/mL for Trp-TA·HCl system, and 1.4–6.0 μg/mL and 0.41 μg/mL for Phe-TA·HCl system. The optimum reaction conditions, influencing factors and the effect of coexisting substances are investigated. And the results show the method has a good selectivity. Judging from the effect of temperature, the Stern-Volmer plots and fluorescence lifetime determination, the quenching of fluorescence of amino acids by TA·HCl is a static quenching process.     

A Straightforward Immunoassay Applicable to a Wide Range of Antibodies Based on Surface Enhanced Fluorescence

A straightforward immunoassay based on surface enhanced fluorescence (SEF) has been demonstrated using a fluorescent immune substrate and antibody functionalized-silver nanoparticles. Unlike the conventional SEF-based immunoassay, which usually uses the dye-labeled antibodies and the metallic nanostructured-substrates, the presented immune system does not need the antibodies to be labeled with dye molecules. Thus, this immunoassay can be easily applied to the detection of a wide range of target antigens, which is of great importance for its practical application. The experimental results show that this immunoassay has a good specificity as well as the capacity of quantitative detection. Basically, the surface density of the immuno-adsorbed silver nanoparticles increases with the increased amount of target antigens, resulting in a fluorescence enhancement up to around 7 fold. The dose-responsive performance of the immunoassay has been investigated and the limit of detection (LOD) is 1 ng/mL. Due to its simple preparation method and the wide range of detectable antigens, this presented immunoassay is expected to be helpful for extending the SEF-based application.     

萘酰亚胺铁离子荧光探针的合成及识别性能

以1,8-萘酐、N,N-二甲基乙醇胺、三乙烯四胺为原料,通过酰亚胺化、缩合等反应,合成一种萘酰亚胺荧光探针,并通过核磁氢谱、红外光谱结构表征,测定了探针在乙醇与水的混合溶液中的荧光光谱。考察了金属离子浓度等因素的影响,对其配位机理进行了研究。结果显示,目标产物在乙醇-水溶液中对Fe~(3+)表现出了专属选择性识别性能,在(1.87~6.53)×10~(-6)g/m L的Fe~(3+)浓度范围内,探针荧光强度与Fe~(3+)浓度有很好的线性关系,线性相关系数R=0.995 3,检出限为405.1 ng/mL。     

Biochip fluorescence detection system with spatial and spectral separation

A novel optical arrangement for fluorescence detection that employs spatial separation as well as spectral filter to increase the signal to noise ratio is proposed. Using a prism and two mirrors, the elliptical laser beam of a laser diode, as an excitation light, is homogenized and the transmitted excitation light is separated from the fluorescence not to reach the collecting optics. Uncooled CCD can capture the fluorescence image of up to 40 fluorescently-labeled protein patterns without scanning or mechanical translation. This paper presents the simulation, construction and measurement results of the developed optical system. The measurements show that the combination of prism and mirrors converts the excitation light from the laser diode to uniform illumination on the specimen, and provides the separation between excitation and fluorescence light to give high signal to noise ratio. It is also possible to assay various protein concentrations ranging from 1000 to 10 ng/ml reliably. We believe that the proposed fluorescence detection system can be used to build a commercially valuable, low cost, hand-held or miniature fast detection device for point-of-care applications.     

Spectrofluorometric Determination of Methocarbamol in Pharmaceutical Preparations and Human Plasma

A simple, sensitive and rapid spectrofluorometric method for determination of methocarbamol in pharmaceutical formulations and spiked human plasma has been developed. The proposed method is based on the measurement of the native fluorescence of methocarbamol in methanol at 313 nm after excitation at 277 nm. The relative fluorescence intensity-concentration plot was rectilinear over the range of 0.05–2.0 μg/mL, with good correlation (r = 0.9999), limit of detection of 0.007 μg/ mL and a lower limit of quantification of 0.022 μg/ mL. The described method was successfully applied for the determination of methocarbamol in its tablets without interference from co-formulated drugs, such as aspirin, diclofenac, paracetamol and ibuprofen, The results obtained were in good agreement with those obtained using the official method (USP 30).The high sensitivity of the method allowed the determination of the studied drug in spiked human plasma with average percentage recovery of 99.42 ± 3.84.     

Highly Sensitive Synchronous Fluorescence Measurement of Danofloxacin in Pharmaceutical and Milk Samples Using Aluminium (III) Enhanced Fluorescence

A simple, rapid and sensitive constant wavelength synchronous fluorescence method is developed for the determination of danofloxacin (DAN) in pharmaceutical formulations and its residue in milk based on Al(III) enhanced fluorescence. The synchronous fluorescence intensity of the system is measured at 435?nm using ? λ?=?80?nm and an excitation wavelength of 280?nm. A good linear relationship between enhanced fluorescence intensity and DAN concentration is obtained in the range of 3-100?ng?mL(-1)(r (2)?=?0.9991). The limit of detection (LOD, S/N?=?3) of the present method is 0.9?ng?mL(-1). The proposed method can be successfully applied to the determination of DAN in pharmaceutical formulations and in milk without serious interferences from common excipients, metal ions and other co-existing substances. The method can be used as a rapid screening to judge whether the DAN residues in milk exceed Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) or not.     

Enhanced Fluorescence Anisotropy Assay for Human Cardiac Troponin I and T Detection

Human cardiac troponin I (hcTnI) and troponin T (hcTnT) are the biomarkers of choice for the diagnosis of cardiac diseases. In an effort to improve assay sensitivity, in this study we developed a novel approach to simultaneously detect hcTnI and hcTnT in homogenous solutions by monitoring enhanced-fluorescence-anisotropy changes. Specifically, our design was based on a competition assay by measuring anisotropy change of fluorophore-labeled peptides bound to primary monoclonal antibodies in the presence of nano-gold-modified secondary antibody in response to the presence of target proteins. Enhanced-fluorescence-anisotropy resulted from interaction between the primary antibody and the nano-gold-labeled secondary antibody, which significantly increased the size and decreased tumbling motion of the complex of peptide-antibodies. The measurements were performed to detect hcTnI and hcTnT either individually or simultaneously in a homogenous buffer solution and in the solutions containing human plasma. Our results showed that when fluorescence emission was monitored at a single wavelength selected by a monochromator the assay at all experimental conditions had excellent linear response to the target proteins within the concentration range of 0.5–40 nM. The detection limit is 0.5 nM for both hcTnI and hcTnT in the presence of human plasma. However, when fluorescence emission was monitored using a cutoff filter, the linear response of the assay to the target proteins is within 15–500 pM. The detection limit is 15 pM which is close to the recommended 99th percentile cutoff point for concentrations of hcTnI and hcTnT tests to discriminate healthy and diseased conditions. Homogenous nature, rapid response time, and easy implementation of our assay design make it a useful tool for disease biomarker and protein sensing.     

Antifreeze protein detection using Rhodamine B as photoluminescence label in porous silicon

A novel method is demonstrated to detect Antifreeze proteins (AFPs) based on photoluminescence (PL) using porous silicon (PS) coated with silver as a substrate. Ag/PS substrate is obtained through immersion of PS in silver nitrate (AgNO₃) solutions and is incubated with Rhodamine B (RB) as PL label. This substrate is easy to be fabricated and the pore size of PS is large enough for biological molecules to infiltrate, which is an ideal platform for biological molecule detection. Through functionalization used glutaraldehyde (GTA) and 4-(N-Maleimidomethyl) cyclohexane-1-carboxylicacid (Sulfo-SMCC) as cross-linkers separately, we test the role of the AFPs antibodies in selective capturing the AFPs antigen and explain the reason of the enhancement of PL intensity. The result shows a significant enhancement of the PL intensity of RB at around 590 nm due to the interaction of antibody–antigen competitive binding with AFPs. Therefore, the PL corresponding to RB was selected to detect the target AFPs and the PL intensity of RB proportional to the AFPs concentration. The detection limit was found to be 1.65 μg/ml for AFPs when GTA was used as cross-linker, and the detection limit was 16.5 ng/ml with Sulfo-SMCC as cross-linker.     

An ionic liquid-type multiwall carbon nanotubes paste electrode for electrochemical investigation and determination of morphine

The direct electrochemistry of morphine on modified multiwall carbon nanotubes using carbon ionic liquid (i.e., 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluoro phosphate, ([C4mim]–[PF6])) was studied. It was found that the electrode showed sensitive voltammetric response to morphine. The experimental results suggested that the modified electrode promoted electron transfer reaction for the oxidation of morphine. The electron transfer coefficient and charge transfer resistant (R _ct) of morphine at the modified electrode were calculated. Under the optimized conditions at pH 8.0, the peak current was linear to morphine concentrations over the concentration range of 0.45–450 μmol L⁻¹, using differential pulse voltammetry. The detection limit was 0.14 μmol L⁻¹. The proposed method was successfully applied to the determination of morphine in both ampoules and urine samples.