Nanoparticle ζ-potential measurements using tunable resistive pulse sensing with variable pressure

On the Behavior of Nanoparticles beyond the Nanopore Interface

Recent advances in solid-state and biological nanopore sensors have produced a deluge of analytical techniques for in situ characterization of bio-nano colloidal dispersions; however, the transport forces governing particle movement into and out of the nanopore are not yet fully understood. Herein, we study the motion of particles outside the smaller opening of an elastomeric size-tunable nanopore and relate this motion to existing transport forces known to act on particles within the pore. Subsequently, we develop a combined optoelectronic approach which allows the comparison of both resistive pulse sensing and single particle tracking-based techniques for particle size characterization and, intriguingly, measurements of the ensemble particle motion induced by a combination of particle electrophoresis as well as pressure-driven and electroosmotic flows through the sensor nanopore. We find evidence suggesting that although bulk fluid flow from the pore tends to drive particle motion, in certain circumstances, electrophoretically driven motion can dominate bulk fluid flow-driven motion even at large distances from the pore opening. By permitting direct observation of the behavior of fluids at the nanopore interface, this approach enables a greater understanding of the transport forces acting on particles as they migrate toward and move through nanopore sensors-with implications for future particle characterization systems and for nanopore methods in general.

Nanoparticle and microorganism detection with a side-micron-orifice-based resistive pulse sensor

This paper presents the detection of nanoparticles and microorganisms using a recently developed side-orifice-based resistive pulse sensor (SO-RPS). By decreasing the channel height of the detection section of the SO-RPS, the detection sensitivity was increased and an average signal to noise ratio (S/N) of about 3 was achieved for 100 nm polystyrene particles. It was also found that spherical particles generate symmetrical signals. Algae with irregular shapes generate signals with more complex patterns. A scatter plot of signal magnitude versus signal width was proven to be reliable for differentiating bacteria from the nanoparticles and two types of algae. The side orifice for detecting heterogeneous nanoparticles and microorganisms is advantageous to avoid orifice clogging and the large flow resistance.

High-Resolution Single Particle Zeta Potential Characterisation of Biological Nanoparticles using Tunable Resistive Pulse Sensing

Physicochemical properties of nanoparticles, such as size, shape, surface charge, density, and porosity play a central role in biological interactions and hence accurate determination of these characteristics is of utmost importance. Here we propose tunable resistive pulse sensing for simultaneous size and surface charge measurements on a particle-by-particle basis, enabling the analysis of a wide spectrum of nanoparticles and their mixtures. Existing methodologies for measuring zeta potential of nanoparticles using resistive pulse sensing are significantly improved by including convection into the theoretical model. The efficacy of this methodology is demonstrated for a range of biological case studies, including measurements of mixed anionic, cationic liposomes, extracellular vesicles in plasma, and in situ time study of DNA immobilisation on the surface of magnetic nanoparticles. The high-resolution single particle size and zeta potential characterisation will provide a better understanding of nano-bio interactions, positively impacting nanomedicine development and their regulatory approval.

Microfluidic and Nanofluidic Resistive Pulse Sensing: A Review

The resistive pulse sensing (RPS) method based on the Coulter principle is a powerful method for particle counting and sizing in electrolyte solutions. With the advancement of micro- and nano-fabrication technologies, microfluidic and nanofluidic resistive pulse sensing technologies and devices have been developed. Due to the unique advantages of microfluidics and nanofluidics, RPS sensors are enabled with more functions with greatly improved sensitivity and throughput and thus have wide applications in fields of biomedical research, clinical diagnosis, and so on. Firstly, this paper reviews some basic theories of particle sizing and counting. Emphasis is then given to the latest development of microfuidic and nanofluidic RPS technologies within the last 6 years, ranging from some new phenomena, methods of improving the sensitivity and throughput, and their applications, to some popular nanopore or nanochannel fabrication techniques. The future research directions and challenges on microfluidic and nanofluidic RPS are also outlined.

Detection and sizing of nanoparticles and DNA on PDMS nanofluidic chips based on differential resistive pulse sensing

The RPS (Resistive Pulse Sensing) technique is a popular tool for the label-free detection of particles. This paper describes a simple, cost-effective PDMS nanofluidic chip for the detection and characterization of nanoparticles based on the differential RPS technique with high resolution and sensitivity. The chip is composed of two layers of PDMS slabs. Microchannel systems fabricated by the photolithography method on the top layer are used for sample loading and differential signal acquisition, and a straight nanochannel on the bottom layer fabricated by an unconventional approach bridging the gap between the microchannels works as an RPS sensing gate. A single-stage differential amplifier is used to amplify the RPS signals when particles or DNA pass through the sensing gate. It was demonstrated that this nanofluidic RPS chip can detect nanoparticles as small as 23 nm with a high SNR (Signal-to-Noise Ratio). The experimental results also show that the device is able to distinguish nanoparticles of smaller size differences such as 60 nm and 83 nm with high resolution, showing superior performance in comparison with the results obtained from DLS (Dynamic Light Scattering). This differential nano-RPS chip was also applied to detect the translocation of dsDNA molecules.

A tunable nanopore sensor for the detection of metal ions using translocation velocity and biphasic pulses

A tunable resistive pulse sensor, utilising a polyurethane nanopore, has been used to characterise nanoparticles as they traverse the pore opening. Herein we demonstrate that the translocation speed, conductive and resistive pulse magnitude, can be used to infer the surface charge of a nanoparticle, and act as a specific transduction signal for the binding of metal ions to ligands on the particle surface. Surfaces of silica nanoparticles were modified with a ligand to demonstrate the concept, and used to extract copper(ii) ions (Cu²⁺) from solution. By tuning the pH and ionic strength of the solution, a biphasic pulse, a conductive followed by a resistive pulse is recorded. Biphasic pulses are becoming a powerful means to characterise materials, and provide insight into the translocation mechanism, and herein we present their first use to detect the presence of metal ions in solution. We demonstrate how combinations of translocation speed and/or biphasic pulse behaviour are used to detect Cu²⁺ with quantitative responses across a range of pH and ionic strengths. Using a generic ligand this assay allows a clear signal for Cu²⁺ as low as 1 ppm with a short 5-minute incubation time, and is capable of measuring 10 ppm Cu²⁺ in the presence of 5 other ions. The method has potential for monitoring heavy metals in biological and environmental samples.

A standardized method to determine the concentration of extracellular vesicles using tunable resistive pulse sensing

BACKGROUND

Understanding the pathogenic role of extracellular vesicles (EVs) in disease and their potential diagnostic and therapeutic utility is extremely reliant on in-depth quantification, measurement and identification of EV sub-populations. Quantification of EVs has presented several challenges, predominantly due to the small size of vesicles such as exosomes and the availability of various technologies to measure nanosized particles, each technology having its own limitations.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A standardized methodology to measure the concentration of extracellular vesicles (EVs) has been developed and tested. The method is based on measuring the EV concentration as a function of a defined size range. Blood plasma EVs are isolated and purified using size exclusion columns (qEV) and consecutively measured with tunable resistive pulse sensing (TRPS). Six independent research groups measured liposome and EV samples with the aim to evaluate the developed methodology. Each group measured identical samples using up to 5 nanopores with 3 repeat measurements per pore. Descriptive statistics and unsupervised multivariate data analysis with principal component analysis (PCA) were used to evaluate reproducibility across the groups and to explore and visualise possible patterns and outliers in EV and liposome data sets.

RESULTS

PCA revealed good reproducibility within and between laboratories, with few minor outlying samples. Measured mean liposome (not filtered with qEV) and EV (filtered with qEV) concentrations had coefficients of variance of 23.9% and 52.5%, respectively. The increased variance of the EV concentration measurements could be attributed to the use of qEVs and the polydisperse nature of EVs.

CONCLUSION

The results of this study demonstrate the feasibility of this standardized methodology to facilitate comparable and reproducible EV concentration measurements.

Quantification of Virus Particles Using Nanopore-Based Resistive-Pulse Sensing Techniques

Viruses have drawn much attention in recent years due to increased recognition of their important roles in virology, immunology, clinical diagnosis, and therapy. Because the biological and physical properties of viruses significantly impact their applications, quantitative detection of individual virus particles has become a critical issue. However, due to various inherent limitations of conventional enumeration techniques such as infectious titer assays, immunological assays, and electron microscopic observation, this issue remains challenging. Thanks to significant advances in nanotechnology, nanostructure-based electrical sensors have emerged as promising platforms for real-time, sensitive detection of numerous bioanalytes. In this paper, we review recent progress in nanopore-based electrical sensing, with particular emphasis on the application of this technique to the quantification of virus particles. Our aim is to provide insights into this novel nanosensor technology, and highlight its ability to enhance current understanding of a variety of viruses.

Particle-by-Particle Charge Analysis of DNA-Modified Nanoparticles Using Tunable Resistive Pulse Sensing

Resistive pulse sensors, RPS, are allowing the transport mechanism of molecules, proteins and even nanoparticles to be characterized as they traverse pores. Previous work using RPS has shown that the size, concentration and zeta potential of the analyte can be measured. Here we use tunable resistive pulse sensing (TRPS) which utilizes a tunable pore to monitor the translocation times of nanoparticles with DNA modified surfaces. We start by demonstrating that the translocation times of particles can be used to infer the zeta potential of known standards and then apply the method to measure the change in zeta potential of DNA modified particles. By measuring the translocation times of DNA modified nanoparticles as a function of packing density, length, structure, and hybridization time, we observe a clear difference in zeta potential using both mean values and population distributions as a function of the DNA structure. We demonstrate the ability to resolve the signals for ssDNA, dsDNA, small changes in base length for nucleotides between 15 and 40 bases long, and even the discrimination between partial and fully complementary target sequences. Such a method has potential and applications in sensors for the monitoring of nanoparticles in both medical and environmental samples.

Nanosuspensions of poorly water-soluble drugs prepared by bottom-up technologies

In recent years, nanosuspension has been considered effective in the delivery of water-soluble drugs. One of the main challenges to effective drug delivery is designing an appropriate nanosuspension preparation approach with low energy input and erosion contamination, such as the bottom-up method. This review focuses on bottom-up technologies for preparation of nanosuspensions. The features and advantages of drug nanosuspension, including bottom-up methods as well as the corresponding characterization techniques, solidification methods, and drug delivery dosage forms, are discussed in detail. Certain limitations of commercial nanosuspension products are also reviewed.

Conductivity-based detection techniques in nanofluidic devices

This review covers conductivity detection in fabricated nanochannels and nanopores. Improvements in nanoscale sensing are a direct result of advances in fabrication techniques, which produce devices with channels and pores with reproducible dimensions and in a variety of materials. Analytes of interest are detected by measuring changes in conductance as the analyte accumulates in the channel or passes transiently through the pore. These detection methods take advantage of phenomena enhanced at the nanoscale, such as ion current rectification, surface conductance, and dimensions comparable to the analytes of interest. The end result is the development of sensing technologies for a broad range of analytes, e.g., ions, small molecules, proteins, nucleic acids, and particles.

Applications of tunable resistive pulse sensing

This Review focusses on the recent surge in applied research using tunable resistive pulse sensing, a technique used to analyse submicron colloids in aqueous solutions on a particle-by-particle basis.