The electrochemical behaviour of copper proteins using differential pulse polarography

Amperometric Biosensors Based on Direct Electron Transfer Enzymes

The accurate determination of analyte concentrations with selective, fast, and robust methods is the key for process control, product analysis, environmental compliance, and medical applications. Enzyme-based biosensors meet these requirements to a high degree and can be operated with simple, cost efficient, and easy to use devices. This review focuses on enzymes capable of direct electron transfer (DET) to electrodes and also the electrode materials which can enable or enhance the DET type bioelectrocatalysis. It presents amperometric biosensors for the quantification of important medical, technical, and environmental analytes and it carves out the requirements for enzymes and electrode materials in DET-based third generation biosensors. This review critically surveys enzymes and biosensors for which DET has been reported. Single- or multi-cofactor enzymes featuring copper centers, hemes, FAD, FMN, or PQQ as prosthetic groups as well as fusion enzymes are presented. Nanomaterials, nanostructured electrodes, chemical surface modifications, and protein immobilization strategies are reviewed for their ability to support direct electrochemistry of enzymes. The combination of both biosensor elements-enzymes and electrodes-is evaluated by comparison of substrate specificity, current density, sensitivity, and the range of detection.

The importance of extracellular speciation and corrosion of copper nanoparticles on lung cell membrane integrity

Copper nanoparticles (Cu NPs) are increasingly used in various biologically relevant applications and products, e.g., due to their antimicrobial and catalytic properties. This inevitably demands for an improved understanding on their interactions and potential toxic effects on humans. The aim of this study was to investigate the corrosion of copper nanoparticles in various biological media and to elucidate the speciation of released copper in solution. Furthermore, reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and lung cell (A549 type II) membrane damage induced by Cu NPs in the various media were studied. The used biological media of different complexity are of relevance for nanotoxicological studies: Dulbecco's modified eagle medium (DMEM), DMEM(+) (includes fetal bovine serum), phosphate buffered saline (PBS), and PBS+histidine. The results show that both copper release and corrosion are enhanced in DMEM(+), DMEM, and PBS+histidine compared with PBS alone. Speciation results show that essentially no free copper ions are present in the released fraction of Cu NPs in neither DMEM(+), DMEM nor histidine, while labile Cu complexes form in PBS. The Cu NPs were substantially more membrane reactive in PBS compared to the other media and the NPs caused larger effects compared to the same mass of Cu ions. Similarly, the Cu NPs caused much more ROS generation compared to the released fraction only. Taken together, the results suggest that membrane damage and ROS formation are stronger induced by Cu NPs and by free or labile Cu ions/complexes compared with Cu bound to biomolecules.

Assembling Paramagnetic Ceruloplasmin at Electrode Surfaces Covered with Ferromagnetic Nanoparticles. Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy in the Presence of a Magnetic Field

Adsorption of ceruloplasmin (Cp) at a gold electrode modified with ferromagnetic iron nanoparticles encapsulated in carbon (Fe@C Nps) leads to a successful immobilization of the enzyme in its electroactive form. The proper placement of Cp at the electrode surface on top of the nanocapsules containing an iron core allowed a preorientation of the enzyme, hence allowing direct electron transfer between the electrode and the enzyme. Laser ablation coupled with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry indicated that Cp was predominantly located at the paramagnetic nanoparticles. Scanning electrochemical microscopy measurements in the sample-generation/tip-collection mode proved that Cp was ferrooxidative inactive if it was immobilized on the bare gold surface and reached the highest activity if it was adsorbed on Fe@C Nps in the presence of a magnetic field.

Direct electron transfer reactions between human ceruloplasmin and electrodes

In an effort to find conditions favouring bioelectrocatalytic reduction of oxygen by surface-immobilised human ceruloplasmin (Cp), direct electron transfer (DET) reactions between Cp and an extended range of surfaces were considered. Exploiting advances in surface nanotechnology, bare and carbon-nanotube-modified spectrographic graphite electrodes as well as bare, thiol- and gold-nanoparticle-modified gold electrodes were considered, and ellipsometry provided clues as to the amount and form of adsorbed Cp. DET was studied under different conditions by cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry. Two Faradaic processes with midpoint potentials of about 400 mV and 700 mV vs. NHE, corresponding to the redox transformation of copper sites of Cp, were clearly observed. In spite of the significant amount of Cp adsorbed on the electrode surfaces, as well as the quite fast DET reactions between the redox enzyme and electrodes, bioelectrocatalytic reduction of oxygen by immobilised Cp was never registered. The bioelectrocatalytic inertness of this complex multi-functional redox enzyme interacting with a variety of surfaces might be associated with a very complex mechanism of intramolecular electron transfer involving a kinetic trapping behaviour.

Electroactive centers in Euphorbia latex and lentil seedling amine oxidases

The electrochemical behavior of redox centers in the active site of amine oxidases from lentil seedlings and Euphorbia characias latex was investigated using a mercury film electrode. Tyrosine-derived 6-hydroxydopa quinone (TPQ) and copper ions in the active site are redox centers of these amine oxidases. The enzymes undergo two reduction processes at negative potentials related to the reduction of the TPQ cofactor to the corresponding hydroquinones and the reduction of copper ions, (Cu(II)-->Cu(I)). Copper depleted enzymes, prepared by reduction with dithionite followed by dialysis against cyanide, undergo only one reduction process. Nyquist diagrams, recorded at potentials corresponding to the reduction of cofactors as dc-offset, represent charge transfer impedance followed by a Warburg-type line at low frequencies, indicating the occurrence of a diffusion controlled process in the rate-limiting step of the reduction process.

Direct electron transfer between copper-containing proteins and electrodes

The electrochemistry of some copper-containing proteins and enzymes, viz. azurin, galactose oxidase, tyrosinase (catechol oxidase), and the "blue" multicopper oxidases (ascorbate oxidase, bilirubin oxidase, ceruloplasmin, laccase) is reviewed and discussed in conjunction with their basic biochemical and structural characteristics. It is shown that long-range electron transfer between these enzymes and electrodes can be established, and the mechanistic schemes of the DET processes are proposed.