Rapid and selective colorimetric determination of L-DOPA in human serum with silver nanoparticles

L-DOPA, or l-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine is an aromatic amino acid, which plays a significant role in human metabolism as a precursor of important neurotransmitters. We develop a fast and simple colorimetric method for the detection of L-DOPA in biological fluids. The method is based on the reduction of silver ions with L-DOPA and the subsequent formation of L-DOPA stabilized silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs). In this novel approach, L-DOPA works as both reducing and stabilizing agent, which provides selectivity and simplifies the procedure. HR-TEM images show very narrow Ag NPs distribution with an average size of 24 nm. Such sensor design is suggested for the first time. We also calculate vertical ionization potential, vertical electron affinity, and Gibbs free energy change of different ionic forms of L-DOPA and amino acids at the M06-2X/def2-TZVP level for the gas phase in comparison with that of silver. A model of silver ions reduction by aromatic amino acids is proposed: the ionic forms with charge -1 are suggested to reduce silver ions. High selectivity against aromatic amino acids, dopamine and serotonin is achieved by tuning pH and involving two L-DOPA forms with charged both hydroxyphenolate and carboxylate groups in the stabilization of uniform-sized Ag NPs. The method is applicable for the determination of L-DOPA in human serum with the 50 nM limit of detection and the linear range up to 5 μM. Ag NPs formation and coloring the solution proceeds in a few minutes. The suggested colorimetric method has potential application in clinical trials.

Electroanalytical Overview: The Determination of Levodopa (L-DOPA)

L-DOPA (levodopa) is a therapeutic agent which is the most effective medication for treating Parkinson's disease, but it needs dose optimization, and therefore its analytical determination is required. Laboratory analytical instruments can be routinely used to measure L-DOPA but are not always available in clinical settings and traditional research laboratories, and they also have slow result delivery times and high costs. The use of electroanalytical sensing overcomes these problems providing a highly sensitivity, low-cost, and readily portable solution. Consequently, we overview the electroanalytical determination of L-DOPA reported throughout the literature summarizing the endeavors toward sensing L-DOPA, and we offer insights into future research opportunities.

Studies of Monoamine Neurotransmitters at Nanomolar Levels Using Carbon Material Electrodes: A Review

Neurotransmitters (NTs) with hydroxyl groups can now be identified electrochemically, utilizing a variety of electrodes and voltammetric techniques. In particular, in monoamine, the position of the hydroxyl groups might alter the sensing properties of a certain neurotransmitter. Numerous research studies using electrodes modified on their surfaces to better detect specific neurotransmitters when other interfering factors are present are reviewed to improve the precision of these measures. An investigation of the monoamine neurotransmitters at nanoscale using electrochemical methods is the primary goal of this review article. It will be used to determine which sort of electrode is ideal for this purpose. The use of carbon materials, such as graphite carbon fiber, carbon fiber micro-electrodes, glassy carbon, and 3D printed electrodes are only some of the electrodes with surface modifications that can be utilized for this purpose. Electrochemical methods for real-time detection and quantification of monoamine neurotransmitters in real samples at the nanomolar level are summarized in this paper.

An improved non-enzymatic electrochemical sensor amplified with CuO nanostructures for sensitive determination of uric acid

This study displays the facile and fluent electrochemical determination of uric acid (UA) through exceptional copper oxide nanostructures (CuO), as an effective sensing probe. The copper oxide nanostructures were fabricated via an aqueous chemical growth method using sodium hydroxide as a reducing agent, which massively hold hydroxide source. Copper oxide nanostructures showed astonishing electrocatalytic behavior in the detection of UA. Different characterization techniques such as XRD, FESEM, and EDS were exploited to determine crystalline nature, morphologies, and elemental composition of synthesized nanostructures. The cyclic voltammetry (CV) was subjected to investigate the electrochemical performance of UA using copper oxide nanostructures modified glassy carbon electrode CuO/GCE. The CV parameters were optimized at a scan rate of 50 mV/s with −0.7 to 0.9 potential range, and the UA response was investigated at 0.4 mV. PBS buffer of pH 7.4 was exploited as a supporting electrolyte. The linear dynamic range for UA was 0.001–351 mM with a very low limit of detection observed as 0.6 µM. The proposed sensor was successfully applied in urine samples for the detection of UA with improved sensitivity and selectivity.

"Nano": An Emerging Avenue in Electrochemical Detection of Neurotransmitters

The growing importance of nanomaterials toward the detection of neurotransmitter molecules has been chronicled in this review. Neurotransmitters (NTs) are chemicals that serve as messengers in synaptic transmission and are key players in brain functions. Abnormal levels of NTs are associated with numerous psychotic and neurodegenerative diseases. Therefore, their sensitive and robust detection is of great significance in clinical diagnostics. For more than three decades, electrochemical sensors have made a mark toward clinical detection of NTs. The superiority of these electrochemical sensors lies in their ability to enable sensitive, simple, rapid, and selective determination of analyte molecules while remaining relatively inexpensive. Additionally, these sensors are capable of being integrated in robust, portable, and miniaturized devices to establish point-of-care diagnostic platforms. Nanomaterials have emerged as promising materials with significant implications for electrochemical sensing due to their inherent capability to achieve high surface coverage, superior sensitivity, and rapid response in addition to simple device architecture and miniaturization. Considering the enormous significance of the levels of NTs in biological systems and the advances in sensing ushered in with the integration of nanotechnology in electrochemistry, the analysis of NTs by employing nanomaterials as interface materials in various matrices has emerged as an active area of research. This review explores the advancements made in the field of electrochemical sensors for the sensitive and selective determination of NTs which have been described in the past two decades with a distinctive focus on extremely innovative attributes introduced by nanotechnology.

Wearable Electrochemical Microneedle Sensor for Continuous Monitoring of Levodopa: Toward Parkinson Management

Levodopa is the most effective medication for treating Parkinson's disease (PD). However, because dose optimization is currently based on patients' report of symptoms, which are difficult for patients to describe, the management of PD is challenging. We report on a microneedle sensing platform for continuous minimally invasive orthogonal electrochemical monitoring of levodopa (L-Dopa). The new multimodal microneedle sensing platform relies on parallel simultaneous independent enzymatic-amperometric and nonenzymatic voltammetric detection of L-Dopa using different microneedles on the same sensor array patch. Such real-time orthogonal L-Dopa sensing offers a built-in redundancy and enhances the information content of the microneedle sensor arrays. This is accomplished by rapid detection of L-Dopa using square-wave voltammetry and chronoamperometry at unmodified and tyrosinase-modified carbon-paste microneedle electrodes, respectively. The new wearable microneedle sensor device displays an attractive analytical performance with the enzymatic and nonenzymatic L-Dopa microneedle sensors offering different dimensions of information while displaying high sensitivity (with a low detection limit), high selectivity in the presence of potential interferences, and good stability in artificial interstitial fluid (ISF). The attractive analytical performance and potential wearable applications of the microneedle sensor array have been demonstrated in a skin-mimicking phantom gel as well as upon penetration through mice skin. The design and attractive analytical performance of the new orthogonal wearable microneedle sensor array hold considerable promise for reliable, continuous, minimally invasive monitoring of L-Dopa in the ISF toward optimizing the dosing regimen of the drug and effective management of Parkinson disease.

Nanomaterial based electrochemical sensing of the biomarker serotonin: a comprehensive review

This review (with 131 references) summarizes the progress made in the past years in the field of nanomaterial based sensing of serotonin (5-HT). An introduction summarizes the significant role of 5-HT as a biomarker for several major diseases, methods for its determination and the various kinds of nanomaterials for use in electrochemical sensing process relies principally on a precise choice of electrodes. The next main section covers nanomaterial based methods for sensing 5-HT, with subsections on electrodes modified with carbon nanotubes, graphene related materials, gold nanomaterials, and by other nanomaterials. A concluding section discusses future perspectives and current challenges of 5-HT determination. Graphical abstract Conceptual design of electrochemical sensing process of the biomarker serotonin by using nanomaterials and the role of 5-HTas biomarker in the body from preclinical to clincal.

Electrochemical detection of serotonin based on a poly(bromocresol green) film and Fe3O4 nanoparticles in a chitosan matrix

A composite film containing poly(bromocresol green), magnetic nanoparticles and multiwalled carbon nanotubes was fabricated for the sensitive determination of serotonin.

In vivo Monitoring of Serotonin by Nanomaterial Functionalized Acupuncture Needle

Acupuncture treatment is amazing but controversial. Up to now, the mechanism of treating diseases by acupuncture and moxibustion is still unclear, especially the occurrence of the molecular events in local acupoints. Herein, we report an extremely stable microsensor by modifying carbon nanotube (CNT) to the tip surface of acupuncture needle and applying this CNT-modified acupuncture needle for real time monitoring of serotonin (5-HT) in vivo. To stabilize CNT modification on the needle tip surface, poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)(PEDOT) was employed as glue water to stick CNT on the needle. The detection limit of the CNT-modified needle was found to be approximately 50 nM and 78 nM in the PBS and the cell medium, respectively. In addition, the needle showed good selectivity to some inflammatory mediators and some electroactive molecules. For the first time, the CNT-modified needle could be directly probed into rat body for real time monitoring of 5-HT in vivo, showing a great potential for better understanding the mechanism of acupuncture treatment.

Synthesis of ZnO nanowire arrays/3D graphene foam and application for determination of levodopa in the presence of uric acid

Three-dimensional (3D) graphene foam (GF) was prepared by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) using nickel foam as the template. ZnO nanowire arrays (ZnO NWAs) were vertically grown on the 3D GF by hydrothermal synthesis to prepare ZnO NWAs/GF. This hybrid combines the properties of ZnO NWAs and 3D GF, which has favorable electrocatalysis and outstanding electrical conductivity. The vertically aligned ZnO NWAs grown on the GF enlarged the electroactive surface area, which was investigated from the Fe(CN)₆^3-4+ redox kinetic study. The ZnO NWAs/GF was used as an electrochemical electrode for the determination of Levodopa (LD) in the presence of uric acid (UA). The electrochemical responses of the ZnO NWAs/GF electrode were investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). The results show that the sensitivity of the electrode for LD is 3.15μAμM^-1 in the concentration range of 0.05-20μM and the measured detection limit of the electrode for LD is 50nM. The electrode also shows good selectivity, reproducibility and stability. The proposed electrode is succsefully used to determine LD in human plasma samples and it is potential for use in clinical research.

One-pot in situ synthesis of a CoFe2O4nanoparticle-reduced graphene oxide nanocomposite with high performance for levodopa sensing

We demonstrate that a new nanocomposite of CoFe₂O₄-reduced graphene oxide can be used as an enhanced electrochemical sensing platform for levodopa.

Nanomaterial-based electrochemical sensing of neurological drugs and neurotransmitters

Nanomaterial-modified detection systems represent a chief driver towards the adoption of electrochemical methods, since nanomaterials enable functional tunability, ability to self-assemble, and novel electrical, optical and catalytic properties that emerge at this scale. This results in tremendous gains in terms of sensitivity, selectivity and versatility. We review the electrochemical methods and mechanisms that may be applied to the detection of neurological drugs. We focus on understanding how specific nano-sized modifiers may be applied to influence the electron transfer event to result in gains in sensitivity, selectivity and versatility of the detection system. This critical review is structured on the basis of the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) Classification System, specifically ATC Code N (neurotransmitters). Specific sections are dedicated to the widely used electrodes based on the carbon materials, supporting electrolytes, and on electrochemical detection paradigms for neurological drugs and neurotransmitters within the groups referred to as ATC codes N01 to N07. We finally discuss emerging trends and future challenges such as the development of strategies for simultaneous detection of multiple targets with high spatial and temporal resolutions, the integration of microfluidic strategies for selective and localized analyte pre-concentration, the real-time monitoring of neurotransmitter secretions from active cell cultures under electro- and chemotactic cues, aptamer-based biosensors, and the miniaturization of the sensing system for detection in small sample volumes and for enabling cost savings due to manufacturing scale-up. The Electronic Supporting Material (ESM) includes review articles dealing with the review topic in last 40 years, as well as key properties of the analytes, viz., pKa values, half-life of drugs and their electrochemical mechanisms. The ESM also defines analytical figures of merit of the drugs and neurotransmitters. The article contains 198 references in the main manuscript and 207 references in the Electronic Supporting Material. Figureᅟ

Glass/PDMS hybrid microfluidic device integrating vertically aligned SWCNTs to ultrasensitive electrochemical determinations

This communication reports a promising platform for rapid, simple, direct, and ultrasensitive determination of serotonin. The method is related to integration of vertically aligned single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) in electrochemical microfluidic devices. The required microfabrication protocol is simple and fast. In addition, the nanomaterial influenced remarkably the obtained limit-of-detection (LOD) values. Our system achieved a LOD of 0.2 nmol L(-1) for serotonin, to the best of our knowledge one of the lowest values reported in the literature.