Total synchronous fluorescence spectroscopic data modeled with first- and second-order algorithms for the determination of doxorubicin in human plasma

Fabrication of Mn-TPP/RGO Tailored Glassy Carbon Electrode for Doxorubicin Sensing

Cancer is a long-standing disease, and the use of anticancer drugs can cause many different harmful side effects. Therefore, the quantitative analysis of anticancer drugs is crucial. Among all the analytical techniques that have been utilized for the detection of doxorubicin, electrochemical sensors have drawn exceptional consideration because they are simple, affordable, and highly sensitive. Manganese tetraphenylporphyrin decorated reduced graphene oxide (Mn-TPP/RGO), tetraphenylporphyrin decorated reduced graphene oxide (TPP/RGO), and reduced graphene oxide (RGO) nanostructure based glassy carbon electrodes (GCEs) were fabricated for the detection of doxorubicin (DOX). The synthesized materials were characterized by FTIR, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV/vis), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Doxorubicin detection was performed using differential pulse voltammetry (DPV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and cyclic voltammetry (CV). Among the prepared electrodes, Mn-TPP/RGO modified GCE gave an optimum peak current at pH 3. The Mn-TPP/RGO modified electrode showed significant linear response range (0.1-0.6 mM); effective sensitivity (112.09 μA mM-1 cm-2); low detection limit (63.5 μM); and excellent stability, selectivity, repeatability, and reproducibility toward doxorubicin. With differential pulse voltammetry, LoD and sensitivity were 27 μM and 0.174 μA μM-1 cm-2, respectively. Real sample analysis was also performed in human serum, and it depicted reasonable recovery results for spiked doxorubicin.

Reduced Graphene Oxide and Gold Nanoparticles-Modified Electrochemical Aptasensor for Highly Sensitive Detection of Doxorubicin

Doxorubicin (DOX) is the most clinically important antibiotic in cancer treatment, but its severe cardiotoxicity and other side effects limit its clinical use. Therefore, monitoring DOX concentrations during therapy is essential to improve efficacy and reduce adverse effects. Here, we fabricated a sensitive electrochemical aptasensor for DOX detection. The sensor used gold wire as the working electrode and was modified with reduced graphene oxide (rGO)/gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) to improve the sensitivity. An aptamer was used as the recognition element for the DOX. The 5' end of the aptamer was modified with a thiol group, and thus immobilized to the AuNPs, and the 3' end was modified with methylene blue, which acts as the electron mediator. The combination between the aptamer and DOX would produce a binding-induced conformation, which changes the electron transfer rate, yielding a current change that correlates with the concentration of DOX. The aptasensor exhibited good linearity in the DOX concentration range of 0.3 μM to 6 μM, with a detection limit of 0.1 μM. In addition, the aptasensor was used for DOX detection in real samples and results, and showed good recovery. The proposed electrochemical aptasensor will provide a sensitive, fast, simple, and reliable new platform for detecting DOX.

Achieving the analytical second-order advantage with non-bilinear second-order data

Multi-way calibration based on second-order data constitutes a revolutionary milestone for analytical applications. However, most classical chemometric models assume that these data fulfil the property of low rank bilinearity, which cannot be accomplished by all instrumental methods. Indeed, various techniques are able to generate non-bilinear data, which are all potentially useful for the development of novel second-order calibration methodologies. However, the achievement of the second-order advantage in these cases may be severely limited, since methods for comprehensive modelling of non-bilinear second-order data remain only partially explored. In this research, the analytical performance of three well-known second-order models, namely non-bilinear rank annihilation (NBRA), unfolded partial least-squares with residual bilinearization (U-PLS-RBL) and multivariate curve resolution - alternating least-squares (MCR-ALS) is systematically assessed through sets of simulated and experimental non-bilinear second-order data, involving one analyte and one interferent. Although it is not possible to establish a single strategy to model any type of non-bilinear second-order data with the studied methods, each approach may lead to successful predictions under certain circumstances. It is shown that the prediction capacity is severely affected by data properties such as the level of instrumental noise, the rank of the response matrices and the signal selectivity pattern of the analyte.

Exploring the potential of combining chemometric approaches to model non-linear multi-way data with quantitative purposes - A case study

Second-order based calibration methods have been widely investigated capitalizing on the inherent benefits of the data structure and the decomposition models, demonstrating that second-order advantage is a property that conspires to a high likelihood success in the resolution of systems of varying complexity. This work aims to demonstrate the applicability of a combined chemometric strategy to solve non-linear multivariate calibration systems in the presence of non-multilinear multi-way data. The determination of histamine by differential pulse voltammetry at different pH is presented as case study. The experimental system has the outstanding difficulty arisen from the large displacement along the potential axis by the pH, which was successfully overcome by implementation of the presented combined strategy. For data modeling, MCR-ALS, U-PLS/RBL and U-PCA/RBL-RBF were used. MCR-ALS allowed unraveling the non-linear behavior between the signal and the concentration, and extracting the underlying profiles of the constituent. Quantitative analysis was performed through the three models, and a comparative evaluation of the predictive performance was done. The best results were achieved with U-PCA/RBL-RBF (mean recovery = 101%) whereas, MCR-ALS yield the lowest mean recovery for all samples (70%).

Mechanism and optimization of supramolecular complexation-enhanced fluorescence spectroscopy for the determination of SN-38 in plasma and cells

Quantitative detection of two different forms of SN-38 in biological samples is, currently, cumbersome and difficult. A revisit to the mechanism of supramolecular complexation-enhanced fluorescence spectroscopy helps to optimize the determination of SN-38 in plasma and the cellular pharmacokinetics in A549 cells based on the supramolecular complexation. Firstly, the inclusion mechanism dominated by thermodynamic constants was determined by measuring kinetic/thermodynamic parameters (k_on , k_off , ΔG, ΔH, ΔS). On this basis, the best effect of fluorescence sensitization was optimized through screening the interaction conditions (cyclodextrin species and concentrations, drug levels, temperature, pH of the buffer, and reaction time). Furthermore, the proportional relationship between the concentration of the inclusion complex and the fluorescence intensity was confirmed. Finally, a highly sensitive, selective spectrofluorimetric method was established and validated for quantitative analysis of the lactone and carboxylate molecular states of SN-38 plasma levels in rats and cell membrane transfer kinetics in A549 cell lines. The limits of detection for the lactone and carboxylate forms in plasma were found to be 0.44 ng·ml^-1 and 0.28 ng·ml^-1 , respectively. Precision and accuracy met the requirements of biological samples analysis. The proposed detection method provided a reference for elucidating the biodistribution of SN-38.

A simple approach to the determination of three curcuminoids with similar chemical structures in different substrates

The determination of curcuminoids in mixtures is more difficult due to their similar chemical structures as well as serious interferences, thus the complex pretreatments of samples and the optimization of experimental conditions are often required. Here, owing to the mathematical separation of chemical signals by Tchebichef image moments, a simple and effective approach to the simultaneous quantitative analysis was proposed, and applied to the determination of the three curcuminoids in turmeric and curry based on their raw fluorescence 3D spectra. For the established linear models, the leave-one-out correlation coefficients (R _loo-cv) were more than 0.9816 within the linear ranges, and the predictive correlation coefficients (R _p) for the external independent samples were more than 0.9897. The intra- and inter-day precision (less than 6.82%, RSD), average spiked recovery (89.9% ~ 100.8%), LOD (less than 0.07 μg/mL) and LOQ (less than 0.23 μg/mL) suggest that the proposed approach is accurate and reliable. Compared with N-PLS and MCR-ALS methods, our method can obtain more satisfactory results. This study provides a convenient pathway for the rapid analysis of multi-target components with similar chemical structures in mixture of different substrates.

The multi-resolution capability of Tchebichef moments and its applications to the analysis of fluorescence excitation-emission spectra

Fluorescence spectroscopy with an excitation-emission matrix (EEM) is a fast and inexpensive technique and has been applied to the detection of a very wide range of analytes. However, serious scattering and overlapping signals hinder the applications of EEM spectra. In this contribution, the multi-resolution capability of Tchebichef moments was investigated in depth and applied to the analysis of two EEM data sets (data set 1 consisted of valine-tyrosine-valine, tryptophan-glycine and phenylalanine, and data set 2 included vitamin B1, vitamin B2 and vitamin B6) for the first time. By means of the Tchebichef moments with different orders, the different information in the EEM spectra can be represented. It is owing to this multi-resolution capability that the overlapping problem was solved, and the information of chemicals and scatterings were separated. The obtained results demonstrated that the Tchebichef moment method is very effective, which provides a promising tool for the analysis of EEM spectra. It is expected that the applications of Tchebichef moment method could be developed and extended in complex systems such as biological fluids, food, environment and others to deal with the practical problems (overlapped peaks, unknown interferences, baseline drifts, and so on) with other spectra.

An eco-friendly stability-indicating spectrofluorimetric method for the determination of two anticancer stereoisomer drugs in their pharmaceutical preparations following micellar enhancement: Application to kinetic degradation studies

A new rapid and highly sensitive stability-indicating spectrofluorimetric method was developed for the determination of two stereoisomers anticancer drugs, doxorubicin (DOX) and epirubicin (EPI) in pure form and in pharmaceutical preparations. The fluorescence spectral behavior of DOX and EPI in a sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) micellar system was investigated. It was found that the fluorescence intensity of DOX and EPI in an aqueous solution of phosphate buffer pH4.0 and in the presence of SDS was greatly (about two fold) enhanced and the mechanism of fluorescence enhancement effect of SDS on DOX was also investigated. The fluorescence intensity of DOX or EPI was measured at 553nm after excitation at 497nm. The plots of fluorescence intensity versus concentration were rectilinear over a range of 0.03-2μg/mL for both DOX and EPI with good correlation coefficient (r>0.999). High sensitivity to DOX and EPI was attained using the proposed method with limits of detection of 10 and 9ng/mL and limits of quantitation of 29 and 28ng/mL, for DOX and EPI, respectively. The method was successfully applied for the determination of DOX and EPI in biological fluids and in their commercial pharmaceutical preparations and the results were concordant with those obtained using a previously reported method. The application of the proposed method was extended to stability studies of DOX following different forced degradation conditions (acidic, alkaline, oxidative and photolytic) according to ICH guidelines. Moreover, the kinetics of the alkaline and oxidative degradation of DOX was investigated and the apparent first-order rate constants and half-life times were calculated.

Molecularly imprinted polymer-capped nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots as a novel chemiluminescence sensor for selective and sensitive determination of doxorubicin

Molecularly imprinted polymer-capped nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots (MIP@NGQDs) were prepared via a simple sol–gel process and used for chemiluminescence detection of doxorubicin.

Time-Resolved Synchronous Fluorescence for Biomedical Diagnosis

This article presents our most recent advances in synchronous fluorescence (SF) methodology for biomedical diagnostics. The SF method is characterized by simultaneously scanning both the excitation and emission wavelengths while keeping a constant wavelength interval between them. Compared to conventional fluorescence spectroscopy, the SF method simplifies the emission spectrum while enabling greater selectivity, and has been successfully used to detect subtle differences in the fluorescence emission signatures of biochemical species in cells and tissues. The SF method can be used in imaging to analyze dysplastic cells in vitro and tissue in vivo. Based on the SF method, here we demonstrate the feasibility of a time-resolved synchronous fluorescence (TRSF) method, which incorporates the intrinsic fluorescent decay characteristics of the fluorophores. Our prototype TRSF system has clearly shown its advantage in spectro-temporal separation of the fluorophores that were otherwise difficult to spectrally separate in SF spectroscopy. We envision that our previously-tested SF imaging and the newly-developed TRSF methods will combine their proven diagnostic potentials in cancer diagnosis to further improve the efficacy of SF-based biomedical diagnostics.

Chemometrics-assisted determination of amiloride and triamterene in biological fluids with overlapped peaks and unknown interferences

Background: Amiloride (AMI) and triamterene (TRI) are both potassium-saving diuretics, which are ordinarily used as doping to enhance the performance of athletes in sports. For the similar structures and complex matrices existence, chromatography and extraction are commonly employed to realize the determination of AMI and TRI in biological fluids, which are very time-consuming and laborious. Results: A novel method is presented to simultaneous interference-free determination of AMI and TRI in complex biological fluids samples using excitation–emission matrix fluorescence coupled with second-order calibration method based on alternating normalization-weight error algorithm. Conclusion: The proposed method can obtain accurate qualitative and quantitative information of the analytes, even in the presence of the interference from complex biological fluids, which requires few prior purification and separation procedures.

Solid phase extraction of doxorubicin using molecularly imprinted polymer coated magnetite nanospheres prior to its spectrofluorometric determination

Selective doxorubicin-imprinted polymer coated magnetite nanospheres were synthesized.