Determination of catecholamines based on the measurement of the metal nanoparticle-enhanced fluorescence of their terbium complexes

New Trends in Fluorescent Nanomaterials-Based Bio/Chemical Sensors for Neurohormones Detection-A Review

The study of neurotransmitters and stress hormones allows the determination of indicators of the current stress load in the body. These species also create a proper strategy of stress protection. Nowadays, stress is a general factor that affects the population, and it may cause a wide range of serious disorders. Abnormalities in the level of neurohormones, caused by chronic psychological stress, can occur in, for instance, corporate employees, health care workers, shift workers, policemen, or firefighters. Here we present a new nanomaterials-based sensors technology development for the determination of neurohormones. We focus on fluorescent sensors/biosensors that utilize nanomaterials, such as quantum dots or carbon nanomaterials. Nanomaterials, owing to their diversity in size and shape, have been attracting increasing attention in sensing or bioimaging. They possess unique properties, such as fluorescent, electronic, or photoluminescent features. In this Review, we summarize new trends in adopting nanomaterials for applications in fluorescent sensors for neurohormone monitoring.

Current Sample Preparation Methodologies for Determination of Catecholamines and Their Metabolites

Catecholamines (CAs) and their metabolites play significant roles in many physiological processes. Changes in CAs concentration in vivo can serve as potential indicators for the diagnosis of several diseases such as pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma. Thus, the accurate quantification of CAs and their metabolites in biological samples is quite important and has attracted great research interest. However, due to their extremely low concentrations and numerous co-existing biological interferences, direct analysis of these endogenous compounds often suffers from severe difficulties. Employing suitable sample preparation techniques before instrument detection to enrich the target analytes and remove the interferences is a practicable and straightforward approach. To date, many sample preparation techniques such as solid-phase extraction (SPE), and liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) have been utilized to extract CAs and their metabolites from various biological samples. More recently, several modern techniques such as solid-phase microextraction (SPME), liquid-liquid microextraction (LLME), dispersive solid-phase extraction (DSPE), and chemical derivatizations have also been used with certain advanced features of automation and miniaturization. There are no review articles with the emphasis on sample preparations for the determination of catecholamine neurotransmitters in biological samples. Thus, this review aims to summarize recent progress and advances from 2015 to 2021, with emphasis on the sample preparation techniques combined with separation-based detection methods such capillary electrophoresis (CE) or liquid chromatography (LC) with various detectors. The current review manuscript would be helpful for the researchers with their research interests in diagnostic analysis and biological systems to choose suitable sample pretreatment and detection methods.

A comprehensive review on LED-induced fluorescence in diagnostic pathology

Sensitivity, specificity, mobility, and affordability are important criteria to consider for developing diagnostic instruments in common use. Fluorescence spectroscopy has been demonstrating substantial potential in the clinical diagnosis of diseases and evaluating the underlying causes of pathogenesis. A higher degree of device integration with appropriate sensitivity and reasonable cost would further boost the value of the fluorescence techniques in clinical diagnosis and aid in the reduction of healthcare expenses, which is a key economic concern in emerging markets. Light-emitting diodes (LEDs), which are inexpensive and smaller are attractive alternatives to conventional excitation sources in fluorescence spectroscopy, are gaining a lot of momentum in the development of affordable, compact analytical instruments of clinical relevance. The commercial availability of a broad range of LED wavelengths (255-4600 nm) has opened up new avenues for targeting a wide range of clinically significant molecules (both endogenous and exogenous), thereby diagnosing a range of clinical illnesses. As a result, we have specifically examined the uses of LED-induced fluorescence (LED-IF) in preclinical and clinical evaluations of pathological conditions, considering the present advancements in the field.

Optical biosensors - Illuminating the path to personalized drug dosing

Optical biosensors are low-cost, sensitive and portable devices that are poised to revolutionize the medical industry. Healthcare monitoring has already been transformed by such devices, with notable recent applications including heart rate monitoring in smartwatches and COVID-19 lateral flow diagnostic test kits. The commercial success and impact of existing optical sensors has galvanized research in expanding its application in numerous disciplines. Drug detection and monitoring seeks to benefit from the fast-approaching wave of optical biosensors, with diverse applications ranging from illicit drug testing, clinical trials, monitoring in advanced drug delivery systems and personalized drug dosing. The latter has the potential to significantly improve patients' lives by minimizing toxicity and maximizing efficacy. To achieve this, the patient's serum drug levels must be frequently measured. Yet, the current method of obtaining such information, namely therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM), is not routinely practiced as it is invasive, expensive, time-consuming and skilled labor-intensive. Certainly, optical sensors possess the capabilities to challenge this convention. This review explores the current state of optical biosensors in personalized dosing with special emphasis on TDM, and provides an appraisal on recent strategies. The strengths and challenges of optical biosensors are critically evaluated, before concluding with perspectives on the future direction of these sensors.

Optical sensors based on silver nanoparticles for determination of pharmaceuticals: An overview of advances in the last decade

This review focuses on optical nanosensors based on silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) and demonstrates their applications in the determination of pharmaceutical compounds in the last decade. Such optical sensors have received high attention in the analytical field owing to their low cost and simplicity since they do not require any complex or expensive instrumentation. This article reviews Ag NP-based optical methods for the determination of pharmaceutical compounds from 2010 to 2020. The reported optical methods are classified into four types: spectrophotometry, spectrofluorimetry, scattering and chemiluminescence. Ag NPs play different roles in the different sensing platforms used by these methods, the details of which are carefully explained in this review. Moreover, the relevant analytical parameters of the developed methods are categorized by role and tabulated. It is hoped that this review will stimulate further research in this field with similar nanostructures.

Recent Advances in Electrochemical and Optical Sensing of Dopamine

Nowadays, several neurological disorders and neurocrine tumours are associated with dopamine (DA) concentrations in various biological fluids. Highly accurate and ultrasensitive detection of DA levels in different biological samples in real-time can change and improve the quality of a patient's life in addition to reducing the treatment cost. Therefore, the design and development of diagnostic tool for in vivo and in vitro monitoring of DA is of considerable clinical and pharmacological importance. In recent decades, a large number of techniques have been established for DA detection, including chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry, spectroscopic approaches, and electrochemical (EC) methods. These methods are effective, but most of them still have some drawbacks such as consuming time, effort, and money. Added to that, sometimes they need complex procedures to obtain good sensitivity and suffer from low selectivity due to interference from other biological species such as uric acid (UA) and ascorbic acid (AA). Advanced materials can offer remarkable opportunities to overcome drawbacks in conventional DA sensors. This review aims to explain challenges related to DA detection using different techniques, and to summarize and highlight recent advancements in materials used and approaches applied for several sensor surface modification for the monitoring of DA. Also, it focuses on the analytical features of the EC and optical-based sensing techniques available.

A simple and sensitive electrochemical sensor with A-PCA film modified electrode for the determination of metanephrine

A novel electrochemical sensor of a A-PCA/GCE was fabricated by a simple electrodeposition method to determine metanephrine.

A fluorometric microarray with ZnO substrate-enhanced fluorescence and suppressed "coffee-ring" effects for fluorescence immunoassays

A glass slide was first patterned with hydrophobic hexadecyltrimethoxysilane (HDS) and then microspotted with hydrophilic ZnO nanoparticles in an aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APS) matrix. The resulting HDS-ZnO-APS microarray could present the capability of suppressing the undesirable "coffee-ring" effects through its hydrophobic pattern so as to allow the fabrication of ZnO-APS testing microspots with a highly dense and uniform distribution. The lotus-like "self-cleaning" function could also be expected to effectively curb the cross contamination of multiple sample droplets. More importantly, the introduction of ZnO nanoparticles could endow the testing microspots with substrate-enhanced fluorescence leading to signal-amplification microarray fluorometry. The practical application of the developed HDS-ZnO-APS microarray was investigated by the sandwiched fluorometric immunoassays of human IgG, showing a linear detection range from 0.010 to 10.0 ng mL(-1). Such a throughput-improved fluorometric microarray could be tailored for probing multiple biomarkers in complicated media like serum or blood.

Silver nanoparticles-enhanced rare earth co-luminescence effect of Tb(III)-Y(III)-dopamine system

It was found that silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) could enhance co-luminescence effect of rare earths ions Tb(3+) and Y(3+). Based on this, a sensitive fluorescence detection method for the determination of dopamine (DA) was proposed. Moreover, the detection limit for DA was very low (down to nM). This is because DA can remarkably enhance the luminescence intensity of the Tb(3+) ion by Y(3+) in the colloidal solution of AgNPs, forming a new co-luminescence system. Furthermore, based on the metal enhanced fluorescence (MEF), AgNPs can sensitize the co-luminescence effect of the complex of Tb(3+)-Y(3+)-DA. In a neutral buffer solution (pH 7.50), the luminescence intensity of the system was linearly related to the concentration of DA in the range of 2.0-100 nM, with a limit of detection as low as 0.57 nM. The proposed method was applied for the determination of DA in dopamine hydrochloride injections and human serum samples with good accuracy and satisfactory recovery.

Fluorescence enhancement of fisetin by silver nanoparticles with cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide micelles

The synergistic action of solubilization and sensitization of CTAB micelles and metal-enhanced fluorescence of AgNPs enhance fluorescence intensity of fisetin.

Modified Eu-doped Y2 O3 nanoparticles as turn-off luminescent probes for the sensitive detection of pyridoxine

Europium-doped yttrium oxide nanoparticles (Y2 O3 :Eu NPs) modified by captopril were prepared in aqueous solution. In this study, we report the effect of pyridoxine hydrochloride on the photoluminescence intensity of Y2 O3 :Eu NPs in pH 7.2 buffer solution. By increasing the pyridoxine concentration, the luminescence intensity of Y2 O3 :Eu NPs is quenched. The results show that this method demonstrates high sensitivity for pyridoxine determination. A linear relationship is observed between 0.0 and 62.0 μM with a correlation coefficient of 0.995 and a detection limit of 0.023 μM.

Investigation on the co-luminescence effect of europium (III)-lanthanum(III)-dopamine-sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate system and its application

A novel luminescence, enhancement phenomenon in the europium(III)-dopamine-sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate system was observed when lanthanum(III) was added. Based on this, a sensitive co-luminescence method was established for the determination of dopamine. The luminescence signal for the europium (III)-lanthanum(III)-dopamine-sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate system was monitored at λ(ex) = 300 nm, λ(em) = 618 nm and pH 8.3. Under optimized conditions, the enhanced luminescence signal responded linearly to the concentration of dopamine in the range 1.0 × 10(-10)-5.0 × 10(-7) mol/L with a correlation coefficient of 0.9993 (n = 11). The detection limit (3σ) was 2.7 × 10(-11) mol/L and the relative standard deviation for 11 parallel measurements of 3.0 × 10(-8) mol/L dopamine was 1.9%. The presented method was successfully applied for the estimation of dopamine in samples of pharmaceutical preparations, human serum and urine. The possible luminescence enhancement mechanism of the system is discussed briefly.

Application of Tb(4)O(7) nanoparticles for lasalocid and salicylate determination in food analysis

The usefulness of Tb(4)O(7) nanoparticles (NPs) as analytical reagents using sensitized luminescence as a detection system is described for the first time, and the results obtained are compared with those obtained using Tb(III) ions. Two drugs used in veterinary practice, namely, lasalocid (LAS) and salicylate (SAL), have been chosen as model analytes to carry out this study. The experimental conditions for these systems have been optimized, and their analytical features were obtained. The detection limits obtained for LAS and SAL using Tb(4)O(7) NPs were 1.0 and 4.0 ng mL(-1), respectively, which were comparable to those obtained using Tb(III) ions: 1.8 and 1.0 ng mL(-1), respectively. However, precision data, with relative standard deviation values in the range 2.3-3.8% using the NPs and 3.5-6.5% using Tb(III) ions, were slightly better for LAS with Tb(4)O(7) NPs. The practical analytical usefulness of Tb(4)O(7) NPs as luminescent reagents has been shown by performing the determination of LAS in tap water, feed premix, and egg samples, obtaining recoveries in the range of 80.0-105.0%.