Derivatization strategies for CE-LIF analysis of biomarkers: Toward a clinical diagnostic of familial transthyretin amyloidosis

LIFGO: A modular laser-induced fluorescence detection system based on plug-in blocks

In this work, a laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) detection system built in a modular assembling mode was developed based on commercial LEGO blocks and 3D printed blocks. We designed and fabricated a variety of 3D printed building blocks fixed with optical components, including laser light source, filters, lens, dichroic mirror, photodiode detector, and control circuits. Utilizing the relatively high positioning precision of the plug-in blocks, a modular construction strategy was adopted using the flexible plug-in combination of the blocks to build a highly sensitive laser-induced fluorescence detection system, LIFGO. The LIFGO system has a simple structure which could be constructed by inexperienced users within 3 h. We optimized the structure and tested the performance of the LIFGO system, and its detection limits for sodium fluorescein solution in 100 μm i.d. and 250 μm i.d. capillaries were 7 nM and 0.9 nM, respectively. Based on the LIFGO system, we also built a simple capillary electrophoresis (CE) system and applied it to the analysis of DNA fragments to demonstrate its application possibility in biochemical analysis. The separation of 7 fragments in DL500 DNA markers were completed in 600 s. Because of the features of low cost (less than $100) and easy-to-build construction, we introduced the LIFGO system to the experimental teaching of instrumental analysis for undergraduate students. The modular construction form of the LIF detection system greatly reduces the threshold of instrument construction, which is conducive to the popularization of the LIF detection technique in routine laboratories as well as the reform of experimental teaching mode.

Application of Capillary Electrophoresis with Laser-Induced Fluorescence to Immunoassays and Enzyme Assays

Capillary electrophoresis using laser-induced fluorescence detection (CE-LIF) is one of the most sensitive separation tools among electrical separation methods. The use of CE-LIF in immunoassays and enzyme assays has gained a reputation in recent years for its high detection sensitivity, short analysis time, and accurate quantification. Immunoassays are bioassay platforms that rely on binding reactions between an antigen (analyte) and a specific antibody. Enzyme assays measure enzymatic activity through quantitative analysis of substrates and products by the reaction of enzymes in purified enzyme or cell systems. These two category analyses play an important role in the context of biopharmaceutical analysis, clinical therapy, drug discovery, and diagnosis analysis. This review discusses the expanding portfolio of immune and enzyme assays using CE-LIF and focuses on the advantages and disadvantages of these methods over the ten years of existing technology since 2008.

On-a-chip tryptic digestion of transthyretin: a step toward an integrated microfluidic system for the follow-up of familial transthyretin amyloidosis

TTR digestion on TE-chip: production of a fragment of interest allowing the therapeutic follow-up of the familial transthyretin amyloidosis.

Determination of the isomeric forms proportion of fluorogenic naphthalene-2,3-dicarboxaldehyde in a binary mixture of water:methanol using electrochemical methods

The electrochemical response of the fluorogenic label naphthalene-2,3-dicarboxyaldehyde (NDA) in a binary mixture of water/methanol was characterized with cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) electrochemical techniques. Naphthalene-2,3-dicarboxyaldehyde does exist in three isomeric forms in aqueous solution: the unhydrated dialdehyde (DA), the acyclic monohydrated (MA) and the cyclic hemiacetal (HAC). The study underlines that the proportion of each of them varies according to the working pH. At low and high pH, the dialdehyde form is in larger proportion than the acyclic monohydrated form. Conversely at intermediate pH, the concentration of the acyclic form is in greater proportion than the dialdehyde form. These results allowed us to determine the optimal pH of 9 for which the labeling of biomolecules could be more efficient due to the base catalyzed regeneration of the unhydrated form. At this pH, the data processing from the analysis of measured currents and estimation of diffusion coefficients of each form according to the semi-empirical models of Wilke-Chang, Scheibel, Reddy-Doraiswamy and Lusis-Ratcliff allowed us to obtain the concentration of dialdehyde (0.28 mM), acyclic monohydrated (0.57 mM) and cyclic hemiacetal monohydrated (0.15 mM) forms starting from 1mM naphthalene-2,3-dicarboxyaldehyde.

Chemical and Instrumental Approaches for Capillary Electrophoresis (CE)-Fluorescence Analysis of Proteins

Capillary electrophoresis (CE) coupled to fluorescence detection is an invaluable technique for the quantitative analysis of proteins of interest in the field of clinical diagnosis and quality control of novel biotechnology products. The various chemical and instrumental approaches that have been reported to carry out such sensitive analysis are described in this paper. To illustrate the contribution of CE to the analysis of therapeutic proteins, a detailed protocol for impurities profiling of a recombinant antibody sample using CE-LEDIF is given.

Improved electrochemical detection of a transthyretin synthetic peptide in the nanomolar range with a two-electrode system integrated in a glass/PDMS microchip

An alternative to a three-electrode set-up for electrochemical detection and analysis in microfluidic chips is described here. The design of the electrochemical sensor consists of the surface of the glass substrate covered with a PDMS block which bears the microfluidic channels. A band microelectrode which acts as a working electrode surrounded by a large counter electrode is obtained at the micrometric level to propose a simple and efficient sensing area for on-a-chip analysis. The counter-electrode with a surface area about 22-fold greater than the working-microelectrode can also be considered as a pseudo reference since its current density is low and thus limits the potential variations around the rest potential. To this purpose, the [Fe(III)(CN)₆]³⁻/[Fe(II)(CN)₆]⁴⁻ redox couple was used in order to set a reference potential at 0 V since both electrodes were platinum. The electrochemical microchip performance was characterized using differential pulse voltammetric (DPV) detection and quantification of the optically multi-labelled transthyretin synthetic peptide mimicking a tryptic fragment of interest for the diagnosis of familial transthyretin amyloidosis (ATTR). The limit of detection of the peptide by the working microelectrode was 25 nM, a value 100-fold lower than the one reported with conventional capillary electrophoresis coupled with laser-induced fluorescence under the same analytical conditions.