A disposable electrochemical immunosensor for prolactin involving affinity reaction on streptavidin-functionalized magnetic particles

A novel electrochemical immunosensor was developed for the determination of the hormone prolactin. The design involved the use of screen-printed carbon electrodes and streptavidin-functionalized magnetic particles. Biotinylated anti-prolactin antibodies were immobilized onto the functionalized magnetic particles and a sandwich-type immunoassay involving prolactin and anti-prolactin antibody labelled with alkaline phosphatase was employed. The resulting bio-conjugate was trapped on the surface of the screen-printed electrode with a small magnet and prolactin quantification was accomplished by differential pulse voltammetry of 1-naphtol formed in the enzyme reaction using 1-naphtyl phosphate as alkaline phosphatase substrate. All variables involved in the preparation of the immunosensor and in the electrochemical detection step were optimized. The calibration plot for prolactin exhibited a linear range between 10 and 2000 ng mL(-1) with a slope value of 7.0 nA mL ng(-1). The limit of detection was 3.74 ng mL(-1). Furthermore, the modified magnetic beads-antiprolactin conjugates showed an excellent stability. The immunosensor exhibited also a high selectivity with respect to other hormones. The analytical usefulness of the immnunosensor was demonstrated by analyzing human sera spiked with prolactin at three different concentration levels.     

Using liquid crystals as a readout system in urinary albumin assays

Detecting human serum albumin (HSA) in urine samples is a standard procedure for the diagnosis of kidney problems and the prognosis of patients with chronic kidney diseases (CKDs). In this study, we developed a HSA assay by incorporating a thin layer of liquid crystals (LCs) as a readout system such that the presence of HSA in urine samples can be detected as optical signals. In combination with dilution protocols, this assay can be used to estimate the concentration range of HSA simply by counting the number of bright spots. Our results show that the assay can detect HSA at concentrations as low as 15 μg mL(-1). It is anticipated that this assay can provide a faster and simpler alternative for the diagnosis and prognosis of patients with kidney diseases.     

Fully automated determination of parabens, triclosan and methyl triclosan in wastewater by microextraction by packed sorbents and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

A fully automated method for the determination of triclosan (TCS), its derivative methyl triclosan (MeTCS) and six parabens (esters of 4-hydroxybenzoic acid) including branched and linear isomers of propyl (i-PrP and n-PrP) and butyl paraben (i-BuP and n-BuP) in sewage water samples is presented. The procedure includes analytes enrichment by microextraction by packed sorbent (MEPS) coupled at-line to large volume injection-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (LVI-GC-MS). Under optimised conditions, compounds were extracted from 2 mL samples, adjusted at pH 3, using a C18 MEPS-sorbent. Adsorbed analytes were eluted directly into the Programmable Temperature Vaporizer (PTV) injector of the chromatograph with 2×25 μL of ethyl acetate. They were quantified using standard solutions in ultrapure water submitted to the same sample enrichment process as real sewage water samples. After signal normalisation using isotopic labelled species as internal surrogates, no differences were noticed among the extraction efficiency for sewage and ultrapure water; moreover, the proposed method reported lineal calibration curves from 0.1 to 10 ng mL(-1), relative standard deviations (%RSD) between 2 and 7.1% and limits of detection (LODs) varying from 0.001 to 0.015 ng mL(-1) in ultrapure water and from 0.02 to 0.59 ng mL(-1) in the most complex sample (raw wastewater).     

A surface fit approach with a disposable optical tongue for alkaline ion analysis

A disposable optical tongue for the alkaline ions Na(I) and K(I) is described. The two-sensor layout prepared on a transparent support consists of non-specific polymeric membranes working by ionophore-chromoionophore chemistry. The non-specific behavior of the membranes was controlled by means of the crown ether-type ionophore present. The imaging of the tongue, after reaction for 3 min with the unknown solution, by means of a conventional flatbed scanner working by transmission mode, makes it possible to calculate the H (hue) value of the hue, saturation, value (HSV) color space used as a robust and precise analytical parameter. The modelling of the response of the two-sensor tongue as a sigmoidal surface is used to characterize the behavior of the tongue and as a basis to infer the concentration values. To compute the concentration of two analytes from the two hue values obtained using the optical tongue, a surface fit approach was used. The tongue works over a wide dynamic range (1.0×10(-4)-0.1 M both in Na(I) and K(I)). The sensing membranes show good intramembrane (1.4% RSD) and intermembrane precision (0.71% RSD) and lifetime (around 45 days in darkness). The procedure was used to analyze Na(I) and K(I) in different types of natural waters (tap and mineral), validating the results against a reference procedure.     

Design and synthesis of a new class of membrane-permeable triazaborolopyridinium fluorescent probes

A new class of fluorescent triazaborolopyridinium compounds was synthesized from hydrazones of 2-hydrazinylpyridine (HPY) and evaluated as potential dyes for live-cell imaging applications. The HPY dyes are small, their absorption/emission properties are tunable through variation of pyridyl or hydrazone substituents, and they offer favorable photophysical characteristics featuring large Stokes shifts and general insensitivity to solvent or pH. The stability, neutral charge, cell membrane permeability, and favorable relative influences on the water solubility of HPY conjugates are complementary to existing fluorescent dyes and offer advantages for the development of receptor-targeted small-molecule probes. This potential was assessed through the development of a new class of cysteine-derived HPY-conjugate imaging agents for the kinesin spindle protein (KSP) that is expressed in the cytoplasm during mitosis and is a promising chemotherapeutic target. Conjugates possessing the neutral HPY or charged Alexa Fluor dyes that function as potent, selective allosteric inhibitors of the KSP motor were compared using biochemical and cell-based phenotypic assays and live-cell imaging. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of the HPY dye moiety as a component of probes for an intracellular protein target and highlight the importance of dye structure in determining the pathway of cell entry and the overall performance of small-molecule conjugates as imaging agents.     

Multivalent binding motifs for the noncovalent functionalization of graphene

Single-layer graphene is a newly available conductive material ideally suited for forming well-defined interfaces with electroactive compounds. Aromatic moieties typically interact with the graphene surface to maximize van der Waals interactions, predisposing most compounds to lie flat on its basal plane. Here we describe a tripodal motif that binds multivalently to graphene through three pyrene moieties and projects easily varied functionality away from the surface. The thermodynamic and kinetic binding parameters of a tripod bearing a redox-active Co(II) bis-terpyridyl complex were investigated electrochemically. The complex binds strongly to graphene and forms monolayers with a molecular footprint of 2.3 nm(2) and a ΔG(ads) = -38.8 ± 0.2 kJ mol(-1). Its monolayers are stable in fresh electrolyte for more than 12 h and desorb from graphene 1000 times more slowly than model compounds bearing a single aromatic binding group. Differences in the heterogeneous rate constants of electron transfer between the two compounds suggest that the tripod projects its redox couple away from the graphene surface.     

Study of the capillary electrophoresis profile of intact α-1-acid glycoprotein isoforms as a biomarker of atherothrombosis

α-1-Acid glycoprotein (AGP) is a serum glycoprotein that presents several isoforms. Changes in the isoforms of AGP have been related to different pathological states including cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) such as acute myocardial infarction. However, to our knowledge, the role of variations of AGP isoforms as a potential biomarker of atherothrombosis has not been addressed. In this work, a preliminary study about differences in the capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) profile of intact (non-hydrolyzed) AGP isoforms between healthy individuals and patients with atherothrombosis, specifically abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) and carotid atherosclerosis (CTA), has been performed. Biological samples (plasmas and sera) were analyzed by CZE after immunoaffinity chromatography purification. Up to 13 peaks corresponding to groups of isoforms of intact AGP from plasma samples were detected by CZE-UV. Electrophoretic profiles were aligned, peaks assigned, and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) of percentage of the corrected areas of AGP peaks was employed to discriminate and classify the CZE profiles of AGP samples. LDA enabled to accomplish 92.9% of correct classification of the AGP samples when the three groups of samples were considered. Besides, the LDA model showed high predictive power in the groups healthy vs. sick, healthy vs. AAA, and healthy vs. CTA. The described method was a successful approach to study the potential of AGP isoforms profile as a biomarker of atherothrombosis. To the best of our knowledge this has been the first time that a possible role of the CZE profile of intact AGP isoforms as a biomarker of vascular diseases has been demonstrated.     

Comprehensive analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in wastewater using stir bar sorptive extraction and gas chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry

The objective of this study was the optimization and comparison of two extraction methods for the determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in wastewater (WW). A distribution study of the target compounds between the aqueous phase and the suspended particulate matter (SPM) has been performed in order to establish whether the analysis of both phases is necessary. In this sense, the feasibility of stir bar sorptive extraction (SBSE) and solid-phase extraction (SPE) for the determination of 24 PAHs in WW samples has been evaluated. The results demonstrated the suitability of SBSE to perform a comprehensive analysis of liquid samples containing high amounts of SPM, such as in the determination of PAHs in WWs. A gas chromatography triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (GC-QqQ-MS/MS) method has been also optimized for the separation and detection of the target compounds, avoiding the co-elution of some groups of isomers, such as benzo[b], [j] and [k] fluoranthenes and indene[1,2,3-cd]pyrene/dibenz[a,h]anthracene. For that purpose, a specific capillary column developed for PAH determination was used. The SBSE procedure was validated and adequate parameters (such as recovery, linearity, precision, limits of detection and quantification) were obtained. Finally, the validated method was applied to the analysis of real samples collected from an experimental WW treatment plant, detecting some PAHs at concentrations in the range 0.007-0.022 μg L(-1).     

Response of solid Ne upon photoexcitation of a NO impurity: a quantum dynamics study

The ultrafast geometrical rearrangement dynamics of NO doped cryogenic Ne matrices after femtosecond laser pulse excitation is studied using a quantum dynamical approach based on a multi-dimensional shell model, with the shell radii being the dynamical variables. The Ne-NO interaction being only weakly anisotropic allows the model to account for the main dynamical features of the rare gas solid. Employing quantum wave packet propagation within the time dependent Hartree approximation, both, the static deformation of the solid due to the impurity and the dynamical response after femtosecond excitation, are analysed. The photoinduced dynamics of the surrounding rare gas atoms is found to be a complex high-dimensional process. The approach allows to consider realistic time-dependent femtosecond pulses and the effect of the pulse duration is clearly shown. Finally, using the pulse parameters of previous experiments, pump-probe signals are calculated and found to be in good agreement with experimental results, allowing for a clear analysis of the ultrafast mechanism of the energy transfer into the solid.