Shuzhen Liao

Acetylcholinesterase Liquid Crystal Biosensor Based on Modulated Growth of Gold Nanoparticles for Amplified Detection of Acetylcholine and Inhibitor

A novel acetylcholinesterase (AChE) liquid crystal (LC) biosensor based on enzymatic growth of gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) has been developed for amplified detection of acetylcholine (ACh) and AChE inhibitor. In this method, AChE mediates the hydrolysis of acetylthiocholine (ATCl) to form thiocholine, and the latter further reduces AuCl(4)(-) to Au NPs without Au nanoseeds. This process, termed biometallization, leads to a great enhancement in the optical signal of the LC biosensor due to the large size of Au NPs, which can greatly disrupt the orientational arrangement of LCs. On the other hand, the hydrolysis of ATCl is inhibited in the presence of ACh or organophosphate pesticides (OPs, a AChE inhibitor), which will decrease the catalytic growth of Au NPs and, as a result, reduce the orientational response of LCs. On the basis of such an inhibition mechanism, the AChE LC biosensor can be used as an effective way to realize the detection of ACh and AChE inhibitors. The results showed that the AChE LC biosensor was highly sensitive to ACh with a detection limit of 15 μmol/L and OPs with a detection limit of 0.3 nmol/L. This study provides a simple and sensitive AChE LC biosensing approach and offers effective signal enhanced strategies for the development of enzyme LC biosensors.

Label-Free Liquid Crystal Biosensor Based on Specific Oligonucleotide Probes for Heavy Metal Ions

In this study, to enhance the capability of metal ions disturbing the orientation of liquid crystals (LCs), we designed a new label-free LC biosensor for the highly selective and sensitive detection of heavy metal ions. This strategy makes use of the target-induced DNA conformational change to enhance the disruption of target molecules for the orientation of LC leading to an amplified optical signal. The Hg(2+) ion, which possesses a unique property to bind specifically to two DNA thymine (T) bases, is used as a model heavy metal ion. In the presence of Hg(2+), the specific oligonucleotide probes form a conformational reorganization of the oligonucleotide probes from hairpin structure to duplex-like complexes. The duplex-like complexes are then bound on the triethoxysilylbutyraldehyde/N,N-dimethyl-N-octadecyl (3-aminopropyl) trimethoxysilyl chloride (TEA/DMOAP)-coated substrate modified with capture probes, which can greatly distort the orientational profile of LC, making the optical image of LC cell birefringent as a result. The optical signal of LC sensor has a visible change at the Hg(2+) concentration of low to 0.1 nM, showing good detection sensitivity. The cost-effective LC sensing method can translate the concentration signal of heavy metal ions in solution into the presence of DNA duplexes and is expected to be a sensitive detection platform for heavy metal ions and other small molecule monitors.

Oligonucleotide probes applied for sensitive enzyme-amplified electrochemical assay of mercury(II) ions

We developed a novel electrochemical sensor for Hg(2+) detection using two mercury-specific oligonucleotide probes and streptavidin-horseradish peroxidase (HRP) enzymatic signal amplification. The two mercury-specific oligonucleotide probes comprised a thiolated capture probe and a biotinated signal probe. The thiolated capture probe was immobilized on a gold electrode. In the presence of Hg(2+), the thymine-Hg(2+)-thymine (T-Hg(2+)-T) interaction between the mismatched T-T base pairs directed the biotinated signal probe hybridizing to the capture probe and yielded a biotin-functioned electrode surface. HRP was then immobilized on the biotin-modified substrate via biotin-streptavidin interaction. The immobilized HRP catalyzed the oxidation of hydroquinone (H(2)Q) to benzoquinone (BQ) by hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)) and the generated BQ was further electrochemically reduced at the modified gold electrode, producing a readout signal for quantitative detection of Hg(2+). The results showed that the enzyme-amplified electrochemical sensor system was highly sensitive to Hg(2+) in the concentration of 0.5 nM to 1 μM with a detection limit of 0.3 nM, and it also demonstrated excellent selectivity against other interferential metal ions.

Modulated Dye Retention for the Signal-On Fluorometric Determination of Acetylcholinesterase Inhibitor

A novel fluorometric assay method based on target-induced signal on was developed for acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitor with obviously improved detection sensitivity. In this method, the AChE molecules catalyzed the hydrolysis of acetylthiocholine (ATCl) to form thiocholine, which in turn can specifically react with fluorescent squaraine derivative, a specific chemodosimeter for thiol-containing compounds, resulting in fluorescence quenching and offering a low fluorometric background for the further detection of AChE inhibitor. In the presence of AChE inhibitor, the catalytic hydrolysis of ATCl is blocked, and then the squaraine derivative remains intact and shows signal-on fluorescence. The amount of the remaining fluorescent squaraine derivative is positively correlated with that of the AChE inhibitor in solution. This new designed sensing system shows an obviously improved sensitivity toward target with a detection limit of 5 pg mL(-1) (0.018 nM) for the AChE inhibitor, comparing favorably with previously reported fluorometric methods. To our best knowledge, this new method is the first example of fluorometric enzymatic assay for AChE inhibitors based on such a signal-on principle and using a specific reaction, which has potential to offer an effective strategy for the detection of AChE inhibitors.

Label-free liquid crystal biosensor for L-histidine: A DNAzyme-based platform for small molecule assay

We have developed a novel DNAzyme-based liquid crystal (LC) biosensor with high sensitivity for L-histidine, which is based on L-histidine-mediated formation of DNA duplexes by cleaving DNAzyme using L-histidine, resulting in a remarkable optical signal. Firstly, an optimal amount of capture probe is bound to the glass slide, which changes the surface topology as little as possible and shows a zero-background for the sensing system. When the DNAzyme molecule is cleaved by the target, L-histidine, a partial substrate strand is produced, which in turn can hybridize with the capture probe, forming a DNA duplex. The DNA duplexes induce LC molecules to undergo a homeotropic-to-tiled transition, obtaining a remarkable optical signal. The results show that the DNAzyme-based LC biosensor is highly sensitive to L-histidine with a detection limit of 50 nM. Compared with previously reported multi-step amplified methods, this newly designed assay system for L-histidine has no amplified procedures with comparable sensitivity. This method is an unprecedented example of DNAzyme-based LC biosensor for small molecules, which has potential to offer a DNAzyme-based LC model used in various targets.

Bimetallic gold–silver nanocluster fluorescent probes for Cr(III) and Cr(VI)

Bimetallic gold–silver nanoclusters (AuAgNCs) have been successfully synthesized using 11-mercaptoundecanoic acid (11-MUA) as a reducing agent and capping ligand. It was found that the fluorescence of AuAgNCs was quenched selectively by Cr(III) when using ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) as the masking agent and there was a good detection linear range for Cr(III) from 0.08 μM to 6 μM with high sensitivity (LOD = 0.05 μM, S/N = 3). At the same time, the experimental results show that the AuAgNCs were not sensitive to the ascorbic acid (AA) reductant and they can thus be utilized to detect Cr(VI) indirectly by employing an additional reducing step. Linear quenching of fluorescence intensity related to Cr(VI) concentration was over the range of 0.6 μM to 10 μM with a LOD of 0.3 μM (S/N = 3). In addition, the recovery experiments further demonstrated that this AuAgNCs based method can achieve the chemical speciation and quantitative determination of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) in real water samples.

Acetylcholinesterase liquid crystal biosensor for identification of AChE inhibitors by a reactivator

An improved acetylcholinesterase liquid crystal (LC) biosensor has been developed for the identification of organophosphates (OPs) by using a reactivator. When the acetylcholinesterases (AChEs) inhibited by different kinds of OPs are reactived by a reactivator, the catalytic activity of AChEs can be recovered with different activation efficiency because of the different phosphorylation structures formed in the inhibited AChEs. Accordingly, the reactived AChEs can catalyze the hydrolysis of acetylthiocholine to generate thiocholine product in different degrees, which will result in different catalytic growth of AuNPs and further form distinct orientational response of LCs. Based on such a reactivation mechanism, the AChE LC biosensor with a simple, rapid and visual procedure achieves an obvious identification of three OPs pesticides, methamidophos, trichlorfon and paraoxon, by using a pralidoxime reactivator.