Electrogenerated chemiluminescence of lucigenin at mesoporous platinum electrode and its biosensing application to superoxide dismutase

Dithiothreitol-Lucigenin Chemiluminescent System for Ultrasensitive Dithiothreitol and Superoxide Dismutase Detection

1,4-Dithiothreitol (DTT), a highly water-soluble and well-known reducing agent for preservation and regeneration of sulfhydryl groups in biomedical applications, has been developed as an efficient and stable coreactant of lucigenin for the first time. DTT efficiently reacts with lucigenin to generate intense chemiluminescence (CL), eliminating the need for external catalysts to facilitate the lucigenin CL. The DTT-lucigenin CL is approximately 15-fold more intense when compared with the lucigenin-H₂O₂ classical system. Superoxide dismutase (SOD) remarkably quenches the DTT-lucigenin CL. Based on this phenomenon, a newly developed CL approach for the determination of SOD was proposed with a linear range of 0.01-1.5 μg/mL and a limit of detection of 2.2 ng/mL. Various factors affecting the CL emission of the DTT-lucigenin probe were studied and optimized. Plausible mechanistic pathways for the CL coreaction of lucigenin with DTT were proposed and fully discussed. Our proposed method not only has the merit of being selective toward the target analytes but also eliminates the need for the complex synthesis of luminescent probes and facilitates the sensitive detection of SOD in human serum and cosmetics SOD raw material with satisfactory recoveries.

A visual electrochemiluminescence biosensor based on CuInZnS quantum dots for superoxide dismutase detection

Superoxide dismutase (SOD), also known as liver protein, is a substance widely distributed in various biological cells. It has the function of catalyzing the disproportionation reaction of superoxide free radicals. SOD can form an antioxidant chain together with peroxidase, catalase, and other substances in the body of organisms, and thus, is one of the indispensable important substances in the body of organisms. In this work, we provided a simple and fast visual electrochemiluminescence (ECL) sensor for SOD detection. CuInZnS quantum dots (QDs) worked as the ECL luminophore with hydrogen peroxide as co-reactant. In the sensing process, SOD and CuInZnS QDs on a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) competed with each other for hydrogen peroxide to produce superoxide during electrochemical luminescence, thus quenching the ECL signal of CuInZnS QDs. The proposed sensor can quantify SOD with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.03 μg/mL. In addition, the change in the CuInZnS QDs ECL signal was easily observed with a smartphone camera. The results indicated that this sensor could effectively work in the detection of SOD in human blood. Graphical abstract.

Biosensors for Detection of Human Placental Pathologies: A Review of Emerging Technologies and Current Trends

Substantial growth in the biosensor research has enabled novel, sensitive and point-of-care diagnosis of human diseases in the last decade. This paper presents an overview of the research in the field of biosensors that can potentially predict and diagnosis of common placental pathologies. A survey of biomarkers in maternal circulation and their characterization methods is presented, including markers of oxidative stress, angiogenic factors, placental debris, and inflammatory biomarkers that are associated with various pathophysiological processes in the context of pregnancy complications. Novel biosensors enabled by microfluidics technology and nanomaterials is then reviewed. Representative designs of plasmonic and electrochemical biosensors for highly sensitive and multiplexed detection of biomarkers, as well as on-chip sample preparation and sensing for automatic biomarker detection are illustrated. New trends in organ-on-a-chip based placental disease models are highlighted to illustrate the capability of these in vitro disease models in better understanding the complex pathophysiological processes, including mass transfer across the placental barrier, oxidative stress, inflammation, and malaria infection. Biosensor technologies that can be potentially embedded in the placental models for real time, label-free monitoring of these processes and events are suggested. Merger of cell culture in microfluidics and biosensing can provide significant potential for new developments in advanced placental models, and tools for diagnosis, drug screening and efficacy testing.