Pub Date : 2025-11-22DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2025.344923
Sofiia Tvorynska, Bohdan Josypcuk
<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Pyruvate determination is of great importance in the biomedical field, as its altered level, often assessed together with lactate level as the lactate/pyruvate ratio, is a potential biomarker of various diseases. Additionally, the monitoring of pyruvate is used in the food industry to control processes of fermented food/beverage production. Due to the high selectivity and sensitivity, enzyme-based bioassays can be successfully applied for pyruvate detection; however, the short lifetime and high costs limit their full integration as analytical devices. Therefore, the design of bioassay techniques that have good analytical performance, high storage and operational stability, interference-free from the complex biological matrices, along with simplicity and affordability, is a great demand.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>We developed a new electrochemical flow injection bioassay system based on an immobilized enzyme reactor (IMER) with pyruvate oxidase (POx) for pyruvate determination. An electrochemical detection involves amperometric monitoring of enzymatically consumed oxygen via its reduction at the silver amalgam screen-printed electrode. For IMER preparation, two POx enzymes and two immobilization protocols (covalent attachment onto mesoporous silica powder SBA-15 and physical adsorption onto mesoporous carbon powder Starbon@300) were compared. Both IMERs, regardless of the protocol used, with POx from <em>microorganisms</em> (<em>m</em>POx) as the preferred enzyme, are characterized by high enzymatic capacity (<em>ca.</em> 620 μg of <em>m</em>POx per IMER) with a negligible degree of enzyme leaching (1.7 %). Importantly, the <em>m</em>POx-based IMERs demonstrate high storage stability (6 months) and reusability (400 measurements), while no passivation of the working electrode is observed. The developed bioassay is capable of detecting 11 μM of pyruvate. Finally, the advantages and limitations of pyruvate determination using the enzymatic substrate recycling approach were discussed by testing the IMER consisting of lactate dehydrogenase and lactate oxidase.</div></div><div><h3>Significance</h3><div>This work represents a high-performance pyruvate bioassay with amperometric detection in flow injection analysis, which can be easily automated to increase the expressiveness and productivity of measurements. The long-term operation of the IMERs combined with their affordability (≤€19) and no passivation of the working electrode provides a reliable, rapid, and cost-effective approach for pyruvate determination. The practical applicability of the proposed bioassay platform has been successfully verified by the analysis of various pyruvate-containing beverages/food products as well as samples of human urine and plasma. The relative recovery values in the spiked-found tests ranged from 95.5 to 104.0 %, suggesting the high accuracy and precision of quantitative determination of pyruvate utilizing the developed bioassay.
{"title":"Flow injection bioassay platform with electrochemical detection for pyruvate determination: Development of highly efficient immobilized enzyme reactors","authors":"Sofiia Tvorynska, Bohdan Josypcuk","doi":"10.1016/j.aca.2025.344923","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.aca.2025.344923","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Pyruvate determination is of great importance in the biomedical field, as its altered level, often assessed together with lactate level as the lactate/pyruvate ratio, is a potential biomarker of various diseases. Additionally, the monitoring of pyruvate is used in the food industry to control processes of fermented food/beverage production. Due to the high selectivity and sensitivity, enzyme-based bioassays can be successfully applied for pyruvate detection; however, the short lifetime and high costs limit their full integration as analytical devices. Therefore, the design of bioassay techniques that have good analytical performance, high storage and operational stability, interference-free from the complex biological matrices, along with simplicity and affordability, is a great demand.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>We developed a new electrochemical flow injection bioassay system based on an immobilized enzyme reactor (IMER) with pyruvate oxidase (POx) for pyruvate determination. An electrochemical detection involves amperometric monitoring of enzymatically consumed oxygen via its reduction at the silver amalgam screen-printed electrode. For IMER preparation, two POx enzymes and two immobilization protocols (covalent attachment onto mesoporous silica powder SBA-15 and physical adsorption onto mesoporous carbon powder Starbon@300) were compared. Both IMERs, regardless of the protocol used, with POx from <em>microorganisms</em> (<em>m</em>POx) as the preferred enzyme, are characterized by high enzymatic capacity (<em>ca.</em> 620 μg of <em>m</em>POx per IMER) with a negligible degree of enzyme leaching (1.7 %). Importantly, the <em>m</em>POx-based IMERs demonstrate high storage stability (6 months) and reusability (400 measurements), while no passivation of the working electrode is observed. The developed bioassay is capable of detecting 11 μM of pyruvate. Finally, the advantages and limitations of pyruvate determination using the enzymatic substrate recycling approach were discussed by testing the IMER consisting of lactate dehydrogenase and lactate oxidase.</div></div><div><h3>Significance</h3><div>This work represents a high-performance pyruvate bioassay with amperometric detection in flow injection analysis, which can be easily automated to increase the expressiveness and productivity of measurements. The long-term operation of the IMERs combined with their affordability (≤€19) and no passivation of the working electrode provides a reliable, rapid, and cost-effective approach for pyruvate determination. The practical applicability of the proposed bioassay platform has been successfully verified by the analysis of various pyruvate-containing beverages/food products as well as samples of human urine and plasma. The relative recovery values in the spiked-found tests ranged from 95.5 to 104.0 %, suggesting the high accuracy and precision of quantitative determination of pyruvate utilizing the developed bioassay.","PeriodicalId":240,"journal":{"name":"Analytica Chimica Acta","volume":"1384 ","pages":"Article 344923"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145567834","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-22DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2025.344924
Xinxin Chen , Qingbiao Zheng , Xiaoquan Li , Li Wang , Lifang Zhang , Yuxin Zhang , Lei Wang , Yanbing Lv , Lin Song Li , Ruili Wu
Background
Lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) with the advantages of simplicity, rapidness, and low cost have been a prominent point-of-care test (POCT) technology in invitro diagnostics (IVD). Quantum dots (QDs) based-LFIA have attracted strong attention due to higher sensitivity and quantitative capabilities. Developing the less toxic InP QDs, the most promising candidate for Cd-based QDs, can advance their practical applications in industrial products. However, the use of InP QDs as fluorescence label in LFIA is limited by their unstable and poor luminescent properties due to their highly susceptibility towards O2 and H2O.
Results
We developed a one-pot approach to fabricate InP nanobeads (InP QBs) by emulsion evaporation and multifunctional polymer encapsulation. After the InP@DTAB nanobeads formed by emulsion-solvent evaporation with dodecyl trimethylammonium bromide (DTAB), the InP@DTAB nanobeads were encapsulated with PVP and carboxyl PEG. This method not only minimizes fluorescence loss caused by defects in multi-step reactions but also directly introduces carboxyl groups, facilitating subsequent conjugation with biomolecules. The prepared InP QBs showed high brightness, good alkaline resistance, photostability and thermal stability. Subsequently, the InP QBs was used as labels in LFIA for detection of C-reactive protein (CRP) and N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), achieving lower detection limits of 0.67 ng/mL for CRP and 0.003 ng/mL for NT-proBNP. The InP QBs based-LFIA also had excellent specificity, stability, and accuracy verified by clinical samples.
Significance
This study illustrates the first introduction of PVP and carboxyl PEG to prepare InP nanobeads after the nanobeads formed with emulsion evaporation, which avoided the method of silica encapsulation leading to the fluorescence quench. The InP nanobeads retains the fluorescence and their stability was greatly improved. Compared to other point-of-care test (POCT) assay, the developed InP QBs based-LFIA achieves lower detection limits with excellent specificity, stability, especially accuracy, which shows great application prospects for POCT kits.
{"title":"One-pot fabrication of highly stable and luminescent InP quantum dots nanobeads through multifunctional polymer encapsulation for lateral flow immunoassay","authors":"Xinxin Chen , Qingbiao Zheng , Xiaoquan Li , Li Wang , Lifang Zhang , Yuxin Zhang , Lei Wang , Yanbing Lv , Lin Song Li , Ruili Wu","doi":"10.1016/j.aca.2025.344924","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.aca.2025.344924","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) with the advantages of simplicity, rapidness, and low cost have been a prominent point-of-care test (POCT) technology in <em>in</em> <em>vitro</em> diagnostics (IVD). Quantum dots (QDs) based-LFIA have attracted strong attention due to higher sensitivity and quantitative capabilities. Developing the less toxic InP QDs, the most promising candidate for Cd-based QDs, can advance their practical applications in industrial products. However, the use of InP QDs as fluorescence label in LFIA is limited by their unstable and poor luminescent properties due to their highly susceptibility towards O<sub>2</sub> and H<sub>2</sub>O.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>We developed a one-pot approach to fabricate InP nanobeads (InP QBs) by emulsion evaporation and multifunctional polymer encapsulation. After the InP@DTAB nanobeads formed by emulsion-solvent evaporation with dodecyl trimethylammonium bromide (DTAB), the InP@DTAB nanobeads were encapsulated with PVP and carboxyl PEG. This method not only minimizes fluorescence loss caused by defects in multi-step reactions but also directly introduces carboxyl groups, facilitating subsequent conjugation with biomolecules. The prepared InP QBs showed high brightness, good alkaline resistance, photostability and thermal stability. Subsequently, the InP QBs was used as labels in LFIA for detection of C-reactive protein (CRP) and N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), achieving lower detection limits of 0.67 ng/mL for CRP and 0.003 ng/mL for NT-proBNP. The InP QBs based-LFIA also had excellent specificity, stability, and accuracy verified by clinical samples.</div></div><div><h3>Significance</h3><div>This study illustrates the first introduction of PVP and carboxyl PEG to prepare InP nanobeads after the nanobeads formed with emulsion evaporation, which avoided the method of silica encapsulation leading to the fluorescence quench. The InP nanobeads retains the fluorescence and their stability was greatly improved. Compared to other point-of-care test (POCT) assay, the developed InP QBs based-LFIA achieves lower detection limits with excellent specificity, stability, especially accuracy, which shows great application prospects for POCT kits.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":240,"journal":{"name":"Analytica Chimica Acta","volume":"1383 ","pages":"Article 344924"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145568016","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-22DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2025.344928
Eliška Nováková , Natália Remper , Daniel N. Rainer , Daniel Nentvich
Background
TiO2-assisted photochemical vapor generation (PVG) elegantly solves the inertness of selenate to PVG allowing on-line prereduction of this species and sensitive determination of the element. Overall efficiency of TiO2-assisted photochemical generation depends on the efficiency of electron transfer from the photocatalyst to the dissolved analyte, which is affected by the characteristics of the photocatalyst as well as by the chemical conditions. Up to date, the overall PVG efficiency of the Se TiO2 assisted-PVG system has not been known and the effect of particle size and crystal phase on the efficiency has not been studied.
Results
Two types of TiO2 photocatalyst were characterized and tested showing that smaller particle plays more important role than crystal phase. Optimization of the chemical conditions including addition of transition metal mediators led to the development of photochemical vapor generation method having overall vapor generation efficiency of 63 % (selenite) or 67 % (selenate). The limits of detection were 1.2 μg dm−3 (selenite) and 1.1 μg dm−3 (selenate) with quartz furnace atomic absorption spectrometry detection or 0.15 μg dm−3 (selenite) and 0.14 μg dm−3 (selenate) with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry detection on mass 78 Da (not using polyatomic interference suppression). The method shows unusually good tolerance toward dissolved salts and inorganic acids including HNO3. The method's accuracy was successfully verified on spiked freshwater and seawater samples and water reference materials.
Significance
The overall PVG efficiency of a benchmark photocatalysis approach to the on-line prereduction of selenate has been determined. The importance of particle size and corresponding larger surface area over crystal phase was demonstrated. The developed method for determination of Se is suitable for seawater matrix and can be used without modification with various detection techniques.
{"title":"Efficient TiO2-catalyzed photochemical vapor generation method for the determination of Se","authors":"Eliška Nováková , Natália Remper , Daniel N. Rainer , Daniel Nentvich","doi":"10.1016/j.aca.2025.344928","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.aca.2025.344928","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>TiO<sub>2</sub>-assisted photochemical vapor generation (PVG) elegantly solves the inertness of selenate to PVG allowing on-line prereduction of this species and sensitive determination of the element. Overall efficiency of TiO<sub>2</sub>-assisted photochemical generation depends on the efficiency of electron transfer from the photocatalyst to the dissolved analyte, which is affected by the characteristics of the photocatalyst as well as by the chemical conditions. Up to date, the overall PVG efficiency of the Se TiO<sub>2</sub> assisted-PVG system has not been known and the effect of particle size and crystal phase on the efficiency has not been studied.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Two types of TiO<sub>2</sub> photocatalyst were characterized and tested showing that smaller particle plays more important role than crystal phase. Optimization of the chemical conditions including addition of transition metal mediators led to the development of photochemical vapor generation method having overall vapor generation efficiency of 63 % (selenite) or 67 % (selenate). The limits of detection were 1.2 μg dm<sup>−3</sup> (selenite) and 1.1 μg dm<sup>−3</sup> (selenate) with quartz furnace atomic absorption spectrometry detection or 0.15 μg dm<sup>−3</sup> (selenite) and 0.14 μg dm<sup>−3</sup> (selenate) with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry detection on mass 78 Da (not using polyatomic interference suppression). The method shows unusually good tolerance toward dissolved salts and inorganic acids including HNO<sub>3</sub>. The method's accuracy was successfully verified on spiked freshwater and seawater samples and water reference materials.</div></div><div><h3>Significance</h3><div>The overall PVG efficiency of a benchmark photocatalysis approach to the on-line prereduction of selenate has been determined. The importance of particle size and corresponding larger surface area over crystal phase was demonstrated. The developed method for determination of Se is suitable for seawater matrix and can be used without modification with various detection techniques.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":240,"journal":{"name":"Analytica Chimica Acta","volume":"1384 ","pages":"Article 344928"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145575400","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Despite significant advances in the dual-photoelectrode self-powered sensor, the single-signal output mode usually brings false positives/negatives from environmental interference and instrumental fluctuations, which fails to meet the requirement of accurate and sensitive detection of low-level markers in food safety and environmental monitoring. To address this critical issue, we herein report an Ag+ dual-driven self-calibrating strategy for self-powered ratiometric assay. In the ZnIn2S4//Bi2S3/CuTCPP dual-photoelectrode system, the synergy effect of Ag+-triggered DNAzyme cleavage and cation exchange on ZnIn2S4 photoanode produces a stable and weak reference signal. Specifically, Ag+-triggered DNAzyme cleavages the 3D DNA walker-amplified signal label, and the ion exchange between Ag+ and ZnIn2S4 quenches the reference signal simultaneously via electron migration pathway change. A proof-of-concept detection of mycotoxin ochratoxin A in the crop samples is demonstrated. The ratiometric self-powered sensor demonstrates a wide linear range of 10−6 -102 ng/mL with an ultralow detection limit of 0.20 fg/mL. This work breaks the limits of single-signal self-powered detection, providing a brand-new idea for developing portable devices with great potential of on-site testing in the field environment.
尽管双光电极自供电传感器取得了重大进展，但单信号输出模式往往会受到环境干扰和仪器波动的假阳性/阴性，无法满足食品安全和环境监测中对低水平标志物准确、灵敏检测的要求。为了解决这一关键问题，我们在此报告了一种用于自供电比率测定的Ag+双驱动自校准策略。在ZnIn2S4//Bi2S3/CuTCPP双光电极体系中，Ag+触发的DNAzyme裂解和阳离子交换在ZnIn2S4光阳极上的协同效应产生了稳定而微弱的参考信号。具体来说，Ag+触发的DNAzyme切割了3D DNA walk - amplification信号标签，Ag+和ZnIn2S4之间的离子交换通过电子迁移途径的改变同时淬灭了参考信号。演示了作物样品中真菌毒素赭曲霉毒素A的概念验证检测。比例自供电传感器具有10-6 -102 ng /mL的宽线性范围，超低检出限为0.20 fg/mL。该工作突破了单信号自供电检测的局限，为开发具有巨大现场环境测试潜力的便携式设备提供了全新思路。
{"title":"Ag+ dual-driven self-calibration for high-performance dual-photoelectrode self-powered ratiometric sensing","authors":"Yanru Zhang, Xuechen Zhang, Xue Fan, Hongye Liu, Jingyao Peng, Wenbo Song, Daqian Song","doi":"10.1016/j.aca.2025.344908","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.aca.2025.344908","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Despite significant advances in the dual-photoelectrode self-powered sensor, the single-signal output mode usually brings false positives/negatives from environmental interference and instrumental fluctuations, which fails to meet the requirement of accurate and sensitive detection of low-level markers in food safety and environmental monitoring. To address this critical issue, we herein report an Ag<sup>+</sup> dual-driven self-calibrating strategy for self-powered ratiometric assay. In the ZnIn<sub>2</sub>S<sub>4</sub>//Bi<sub>2</sub>S<sub>3</sub>/CuTCPP dual-photoelectrode system, the synergy effect of Ag<sup>+</sup>-triggered DNAzyme cleavage and cation exchange on ZnIn<sub>2</sub>S<sub>4</sub> photoanode produces a stable and weak reference signal. Specifically, Ag<sup>+</sup>-triggered DNAzyme cleavages the 3D DNA walker-amplified signal label, and the ion exchange between Ag<sup>+</sup> and ZnIn<sub>2</sub>S<sub>4</sub> quenches the reference signal simultaneously via electron migration pathway change. A proof-of-concept detection of mycotoxin ochratoxin A in the crop samples is demonstrated. The ratiometric self-powered sensor demonstrates a wide linear range of 10<sup>−6</sup> -10<sup>2</sup> ng/mL with an ultralow detection limit of 0.20 fg/mL. This work breaks the limits of single-signal self-powered detection, providing a brand-new idea for developing portable devices with great potential of on-site testing in the field environment.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":240,"journal":{"name":"Analytica Chimica Acta","volume":"1383 ","pages":"Article 344908"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145560621","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-20DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2025.344905
Paula C.R. Corsato, Christian O. Silva, Iris R.S. Ribeiro, Renato S. Lima
Anticancer drug susceptibility tests play an essential role in areas such as drug development, pharmacokinetic research, and precision oncology. Across these tests, the methods that are traditionally used for gauging the drug effect—by determining the cell viability of in vitro cell models after drug exposure—are commonly time-consuming and limited to end-point detection. In this regard, electrochemical sensors have emerged as a promising alternative to increase throughput and yield real-time pharmacokinetic monitoring. In this critical review, considerations on the operating principles, advantages, and disadvantages of the state-of-the-art electrochemical drug screening devices are critically discussed. Promising sensing devices have addressed drug susceptibility tests by monitoring (i) cellular, e.g., cell proliferation, adhesion, and detachment for 2D cells and the formation of ionic inter-cell gap junctions for 3D cells), or (ii) extracellular markers, e.g., O2, pH, and metabolic intermediates such as glucose, lactate, and hydrogen peroxide. The advances in these devices are covered here in two parts relying on the aforesaid viability indicators, i.e., cellular and extracellular markers of both 2D and 3D cell models (i.e., spheroids and organ-on-a-chip systems). These advances have aimed at boosting the performance of sensors by utilizing nanomaterials and machine learning. Finally, an outlook on the field's bottlenecks to overcome is provided, seeking to draw new sensing paradigms in electrochemical drug susceptibility tests. Briefly, multisensor, microfluidic, and machine learning-aided sensing devices coupled with 3D cell models stand out as an attractive alternative to offer high-throughput, reproducible, real-time, accurate, and free-calibration predictions of in vivo drug effects. This type of platform can play a key role in steering electrochemical sensors to bridge the translational gap between research and end users in daily anticancer drug susceptibility testing applications.
{"title":"Review on electrochemical sensors for anticancer drug susceptibility testing","authors":"Paula C.R. Corsato, Christian O. Silva, Iris R.S. Ribeiro, Renato S. Lima","doi":"10.1016/j.aca.2025.344905","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aca.2025.344905","url":null,"abstract":"Anticancer drug susceptibility tests play an essential role in areas such as drug development, pharmacokinetic research, and precision oncology. Across these tests, the methods that are traditionally used for gauging the drug effect—by determining the cell viability of <em>in vitro</em> cell models after drug exposure—are commonly time-consuming and limited to end-point detection. In this regard, electrochemical sensors have emerged as a promising alternative to increase throughput and yield real-time pharmacokinetic monitoring. In this critical review, considerations on the operating principles, advantages, and disadvantages of the state-of-the-art electrochemical drug screening devices are critically discussed. Promising sensing devices have addressed drug susceptibility tests by monitoring (i) cellular, e.g., cell proliferation, adhesion, and detachment for 2D cells and the formation of ionic inter-cell gap junctions for 3D cells), or (ii) extracellular markers, e.g., O<sub>2</sub>, pH, and metabolic intermediates such as glucose, lactate, and hydrogen peroxide. The advances in these devices are covered here in two parts relying on the aforesaid viability indicators, i.e., cellular and extracellular markers of both 2D and 3D cell models (i.e., spheroids and organ-on-a-chip systems). These advances have aimed at boosting the performance of sensors by utilizing nanomaterials and machine learning. Finally, an outlook on the field's bottlenecks to overcome is provided, seeking to draw new sensing paradigms in electrochemical drug susceptibility tests. Briefly, multisensor, microfluidic, and machine learning-aided sensing devices coupled with 3D cell models stand out as an attractive alternative to offer high-throughput, reproducible, real-time, accurate, and free-calibration predictions of <em>in vivo</em> drug effects. This type of platform can play a key role in steering electrochemical sensors to bridge the translational gap between research and end users in daily anticancer drug susceptibility testing applications.","PeriodicalId":240,"journal":{"name":"Analytica Chimica Acta","volume":"103 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.2,"publicationDate":"2025-11-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145554393","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-20DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2025.344911
Shiyue Ma , Hongyu Chen , Xin Du , Lu Liu , Yanfeng Zhang , Rongliang Ma , Yongqiang Wen , Meiqin Zhang
Background
The development of level 3 features in various latent fingerprints (LFPs) is pivotal to improving the matching accuracy of damaged fingerprints. Among the various LFP development methods, the traditional ninhydrin method is widely employed in forensic science. However, it exhibits two key limitations: first, it is only effective for developing eccrine LFPs; second, it can only reveal level 2 features. These constraints compromise the extraction efficiency and utility of the developed fingerprints, thereby restricting the method's applicable scenarios.
Results
We report the fabrication of core (polyvinyl alcohol ninhydrin (PVA-ninhydrin))-sheath (polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP)) fibrous films by using coaxial electrospinning technology for high-level development of various LFPs. The film achieves safe, fast and chemical visualization of eccrine, sebaceous and natural LFPs with levels 1–3 features, showing a better visualization effect than ninhydrin solution and PVA-Nin fibrous film. It may be attributed to high specific surface area of thin film with uniform distribution of ninhydrin in the PVA core for high proportion of active sites of amino acids, which enables the film to have strong sweat adsorption and spreading properties. It further allows a more thorough and complete reaction between ninhydrin and the amino acids in the fingerprint residues that enhances the contrast of the developed photos. The statistical analyses of sweat pore count, ridge width, and pore spacing show high consistency and accuracy.
Significant
This study developed the core (PVA-ninhydrin)-sheath (PVP) fibrous films to achieve safe, fast and chemical visualization of eccrine, sebaceous and natural LFPs with levels 1–3 features and accurate quantitative analysis of the developed eccrine one. Moreover, even the interspacing and angles between sweat pores can be derived from level 3 features of the developed fingerprints. These results lay a robust foundation for subsequent fingerprint identification and personal recognition.
{"title":"Electrospun core (PVA-ninhydrin)-sheath (PVP) fibrous film for multi-level feature visualization and quantitative analysis of latent fingerprints","authors":"Shiyue Ma , Hongyu Chen , Xin Du , Lu Liu , Yanfeng Zhang , Rongliang Ma , Yongqiang Wen , Meiqin Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.aca.2025.344911","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.aca.2025.344911","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>The development of level 3 features in various latent fingerprints (LFPs) is pivotal to improving the matching accuracy of damaged fingerprints. Among the various LFP development methods, the traditional ninhydrin method is widely employed in forensic science. However, it exhibits two key limitations: first, it is only effective for developing eccrine LFPs; second, it can only reveal level 2 features. These constraints compromise the extraction efficiency and utility of the developed fingerprints, thereby restricting the method's applicable scenarios.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>We report the fabrication of core (polyvinyl alcohol ninhydrin (PVA-ninhydrin))-sheath (polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP)) fibrous films by using coaxial electrospinning technology for high-level development of various LFPs. The film achieves safe, fast and chemical visualization of eccrine, sebaceous and natural LFPs with levels 1–3 features, showing a better visualization effect than ninhydrin solution and PVA-Nin fibrous film. It may be attributed to high specific surface area of thin film with uniform distribution of ninhydrin in the PVA core for high proportion of active sites of amino acids, which enables the film to have strong sweat adsorption and spreading properties. It further allows a more thorough and complete reaction between ninhydrin and the amino acids in the fingerprint residues that enhances the contrast of the developed photos. The statistical analyses of sweat pore count, ridge width, and pore spacing show high consistency and accuracy.</div></div><div><h3>Significant</h3><div>This study developed the core (PVA-ninhydrin)-sheath (PVP) fibrous films to achieve safe, fast and chemical visualization of eccrine, sebaceous and natural LFPs with levels 1–3 features and accurate quantitative analysis of the developed eccrine one. Moreover, even the interspacing and angles between sweat pores can be derived from level 3 features of the developed fingerprints. These results lay a robust foundation for subsequent fingerprint identification and personal recognition.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":240,"journal":{"name":"Analytica Chimica Acta","volume":"1383 ","pages":"Article 344911"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145554392","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-20DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2025.344922
Yusheng Wu , Shenglan Hu , Lixin Xu , Juan Yang , Na Wang , Biyang Deng
Background
Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is a marker of liver cancer. Patients are harmed by the blood sample collection. Saliva samples are painless, safe, and easy to collect. The development of detecting AFP in saliva is important. Electrochemiluminescence (ECL) has low background signal, a wide dynamic range, and high sensitivity, but traditional ECL methods use a photomultiplier tube as a detector, which is bulky and delicate, and limits the spatial and temporal resolution of ECL. ECL microscopy (ECLM) is a new imaging technique that combines ECL with optical microscopy and makes up for the shortcomings of traditional ECL.
Results
In this study, we developed a smartphone-based electrochemiluminescence microscope (SECLM), utilizing a gold nanorods@polyethyleneimine@ferrocene composite as a quencher and Ru-bpy as the emitter. The SECLM was integrated with molecular imprinting and an immunological technique for the quantitative visual detection of AFP in saliva samples. The method's detection sensitivity was significantly enhanced by the presence of multiple quenching mechanisms, including a blocking effect, inner filter effect, and electron transfer. This study presents a novel strategy to improve the sensing performance of molecular-imprinted ECL sensors. The method demonstrated a linear detection range of 0.01–100 pg/mL, with a limit of detection of 4.5 fg/mL. Comparative analyses with existing techniques indicated that this method achieves a low limit of detection, high sensitivity, and excellent stability, comparable to traditional ECL sensors.
Significance
This novel quantitative visual technique may enhance biomarker detection, and offer a reliable means for disease diagnosis and screening, and open new avenues for the development of sensing methodologies. This expands the application scope of ECLM and is expected to realize the rapid and sensitive biomarker detection for point-of-care and on-site detection. MI-ECLM provides a new tool for disease diagnosis, physiological activity exploration, pathogenesis and molecular biology researches.
{"title":"Smartphone-based molecular imprinting electrochemiluminescence microscope for non-invasive alpha-fetoprotein visual quantitation","authors":"Yusheng Wu , Shenglan Hu , Lixin Xu , Juan Yang , Na Wang , Biyang Deng","doi":"10.1016/j.aca.2025.344922","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.aca.2025.344922","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is a marker of liver cancer. Patients are harmed by the blood sample collection. Saliva samples are painless, safe, and easy to collect. The development of detecting AFP in saliva is important. Electrochemiluminescence (ECL) has low background signal, a wide dynamic range, and high sensitivity, but traditional ECL methods use a photomultiplier tube as a detector, which is bulky and delicate, and limits the spatial and temporal resolution of ECL. ECL microscopy (ECLM) is a new imaging technique that combines ECL with optical microscopy and makes up for the shortcomings of traditional ECL.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>In this study, we developed a smartphone-based electrochemiluminescence microscope (SECLM), utilizing a gold nanorods@polyethyleneimine@ferrocene composite as a quencher and Ru-bpy as the emitter. The SECLM was integrated with molecular imprinting and an immunological technique for the quantitative visual detection of AFP in saliva samples. The method's detection sensitivity was significantly enhanced by the presence of multiple quenching mechanisms, including a blocking effect, inner filter effect, and electron transfer. This study presents a novel strategy to improve the sensing performance of molecular-imprinted ECL sensors. The method demonstrated a linear detection range of 0.01–100 pg/mL, with a limit of detection of 4.5 fg/mL. Comparative analyses with existing techniques indicated that this method achieves a low limit of detection, high sensitivity, and excellent stability, comparable to traditional ECL sensors.</div></div><div><h3>Significance</h3><div>This novel quantitative visual technique may enhance biomarker detection, and offer a reliable means for disease diagnosis and screening, and open new avenues for the development of sensing methodologies. This expands the application scope of ECLM and is expected to realize the rapid and sensitive biomarker detection for point-of-care and on-site detection. MI-ECLM provides a new tool for disease diagnosis, physiological activity exploration, pathogenesis and molecular biology researches.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":240,"journal":{"name":"Analytica Chimica Acta","volume":"1383 ","pages":"Article 344922"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145554394","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-19DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2025.344912
Yuyan Huang , Fan Huang , Qianqian Du , Rui Yu , Jingfeng Lan , Junwei Luo , Hongli Chen , Huige Zhang
Background
Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are essential in the regulation of gene expression and the abnormal expression of them are considered as one of the driving forces for the development and progression of cancers including apoptosis regulation, migration and invasion of cancer cells. Especially, it has been confirmed the diagnostic and prognostic significance of long non-coding RNA metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1) in breast, cervical, lung and other cancers. Thus, lncRNA MALAT1 has emerged as significant biomarker and therapeutic target.
Results
Here, we devised a highly sensitive method for detecting lncRNA MALAT1 by utilizing the ligation-mediated circuit-driven cascade amplification with high utilization rate of template. A special template was designed to initiate the ligation reaction occurring within and between templates in the presence of MALAT1, generating circle template for rolling circle amplification (RCA) and linear template for dual exponential amplification (EXPAR). Subsequently, the primer hybridized with the ligated templates to initiate the RCA and dual EXPAR simultaneously, generating three different products for producing enhanced fluorescent signal. Moreover, the method could be operated by a simple “mixing” procedure for highly selective and sensitive detection of lncRNA MALAT1 with a detection limit of 0.81 aM, and it has been successfully validated for detecting MALAT1 in the extract of cancer mice tissues, demonstrating its potential for practical implementation in MALAT1-related diagnosis and prognosis response.
Significance
Furthermore, the method provides a new way for transforming lncRNA MALAT1 into multiple short DNAs by isothermal amplification with only three DNA reactants, holding the promise for ultrasensitive, selective and cost-effective detection of other long non-coding RNAs.
{"title":"Ligation-mediated circuit-driven cascade amplification with high utilization rate of template for lncRNA MALAT1 detection in cancer mice tissues","authors":"Yuyan Huang , Fan Huang , Qianqian Du , Rui Yu , Jingfeng Lan , Junwei Luo , Hongli Chen , Huige Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.aca.2025.344912","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.aca.2025.344912","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are essential in the regulation of gene expression and the abnormal expression of them are considered as one of the driving forces for the development and progression of cancers including apoptosis regulation, migration and invasion of cancer cells. Especially, it has been confirmed the diagnostic and prognostic significance of long non-coding RNA metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1) in breast, cervical, lung and other cancers. Thus, lncRNA MALAT1 has emerged as significant biomarker and therapeutic target.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Here, we devised a highly sensitive method for detecting lncRNA MALAT1 by utilizing the ligation-mediated circuit-driven cascade amplification with high utilization rate of template. A special template was designed to initiate the ligation reaction occurring within and between templates in the presence of MALAT1, generating circle template for rolling circle amplification (RCA) and linear template for dual exponential amplification (EXPAR). Subsequently, the primer hybridized with the ligated templates to initiate the RCA and dual EXPAR simultaneously, generating three different products for producing enhanced fluorescent signal. Moreover, the method could be operated by a simple “mixing” procedure for highly selective and sensitive detection of lncRNA MALAT1 with a detection limit of 0.81 aM, and it has been successfully validated for detecting MALAT1 in the extract of cancer mice tissues, demonstrating its potential for practical implementation in MALAT1-related diagnosis and prognosis response.</div></div><div><h3>Significance</h3><div>Furthermore, the method provides a new way for transforming lncRNA MALAT1 into multiple short DNAs by isothermal amplification with only three DNA reactants, holding the promise for ultrasensitive, selective and cost-effective detection of other long non-coding RNAs.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":240,"journal":{"name":"Analytica Chimica Acta","volume":"1383 ","pages":"Article 344912"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145546136","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Vancomycin is a glycopeptide antibiotic commonly prescribed for infection by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Due to its narrow therapeutic window and time-dependent bactericidal activity, therapeutic drug monitoring is essential to optimize dosing and minimize toxicity. Immunoassay-based approaches have traditionally been widely used; however, they often require long assay times and are susceptible to matrix interferences, which limit their applicability for rapid clinical use. To enhance the development of point-of-care testing for therapeutic drug monitoring, we developed a fluorescent aptasensor based on a magnetic bead-assisted displacement reaction for the quantification of vancomycin in human plasma.
Results
The sensing mechanism is based on the competition between vancomycin and a complementary single-stranded DNA (cDNA) for binding to a fluorescent aptamer. The cDNA-aptamer complex was immobilized on magnetic beads, and upon addition of vancomycin, the stronger binding affinity between vancomycin and the aptamer displaced the cDNA, releasing the aptamer-vancomycin complex into the supernatant. After magnetic separation, the fluorescence intensity of the supernatant was measured to quantify vancomycin concentration. The optimized experimental conditions were using a 16-mer cDNA and 1 × PBS buffer containing 10 mM MgCl2 at pH 7.0, with a total reaction time of only 15 min. The aptasensor exhibited a linear response for vancomycin in plasma over the range of 1–25 μM, with a low detection limit of 0.5 μM.
Significance
The developed assay was successfully applied to clinical plasma samples, and the results showed good agreement with those obtained by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, confirming the accuracy and potential of this aptasensor for clinical application. This aptasensor provides a simple, rapid, and cost-effective strategy for therapeutic drug monitoring of vancomycin in clinical settings.
{"title":"Fluorescent aptasensor based on magnetic bead–assisted displacement reaction for monitoring vancomycin in plasma","authors":"Cheng-Shiuan Hsieh , Hsu-Yun Tsai , Ting-Chien Tsai , Yang-Chun Wang , Yi-Tung Cheng , Jing-Ru Liou , Meng-Yu Liu , Yen-Ling Chen , Chien-Chin Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.aca.2025.344895","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.aca.2025.344895","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Vancomycin is a glycopeptide antibiotic commonly prescribed for infection by <em>methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus</em>. Due to its narrow therapeutic window and time-dependent bactericidal activity, therapeutic drug monitoring is essential to optimize dosing and minimize toxicity. Immunoassay-based approaches have traditionally been widely used; however, they often require long assay times and are susceptible to matrix interferences, which limit their applicability for rapid clinical use. To enhance the development of point-of-care testing for therapeutic drug monitoring, we developed a fluorescent aptasensor based on a magnetic bead-assisted displacement reaction for the quantification of vancomycin in human plasma.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>The sensing mechanism is based on the competition between vancomycin and a complementary single-stranded DNA (cDNA) for binding to a fluorescent aptamer. The cDNA-aptamer complex was immobilized on magnetic beads, and upon addition of vancomycin, the stronger binding affinity between vancomycin and the aptamer displaced the cDNA, releasing the aptamer-vancomycin complex into the supernatant. After magnetic separation, the fluorescence intensity of the supernatant was measured to quantify vancomycin concentration. The optimized experimental conditions were using a 16-mer cDNA and 1 × PBS buffer containing 10 mM MgCl<sub>2</sub> at pH 7.0, with a total reaction time of only 15 min. The aptasensor exhibited a linear response for vancomycin in plasma over the range of 1–25 μM, with a low detection limit of 0.5 μM.</div></div><div><h3>Significance</h3><div>The developed assay was successfully applied to clinical plasma samples, and the results showed good agreement with those obtained by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, confirming the accuracy and potential of this aptasensor for clinical application. This aptasensor provides a simple, rapid, and cost-effective strategy for therapeutic drug monitoring of vancomycin in clinical settings.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":240,"journal":{"name":"Analytica Chimica Acta","volume":"1383 ","pages":"Article 344895"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-11-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145546101","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"化学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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