Ultrasensitive monitoring of DNA damage associated with free radicals exposure using dynamic carbon nanotubes bridged interdigitated electrode array.

There are currently increasingly concerns over DNA damage related to free radicals due to their vital roles in human health, especially high-performance detection method. Herein, we report an ultra- sensitive monitoring of DNA damage associated with free radicals exposure using interdigitated electrode (IDE) array for the first time. The proposed IDE array was equipped with DNA-wrapped carbon nanotube-based bridges, which utilized the DNA damage mechanism due to the free radicals' attack and the efficient electrical detection nature of the interdigitated electrode. Experiments have been performed, and the results showed the device's capability for detecting DNA damage induced by multiple free radicals generated from different sources, including the Fenton reaction, UV radiation and cigarette smoke, showing the promising ability for DNA damage detection. In addition, the carbon nanotubes bridge-based interdigitated electrode sensor enabled different levels of sensing of DNA damage with great sensitivity and a wide detection range. It was illustrated that the ultrasensitive detection of free radicals generated from ultraviolet radiation (15 min - 125 min), cigarette smoke tar (1 µg/mL to 10 µg/mL) and Fenton reaction under different concentration of H2O2 (2.5 pM - 100 pM), have been detected successfully. Typically, the IDE array supports further performance improvement for the electrochemical detection in an ultrasensitive and high throughput route.

Multiple-targeted graphene-based nanocarrier for intracellular imaging of mRNAs.

Simultaneous detection and imaging of multiple intracellular messenger RNA (mRNAs) hold great significant for early cancer diagnostics and preventive medicine development. Herein, we propose a multiple-targeted graphene oxide (GO) nanocarrier that can simultaneously detect and image different type mRNAs in living cells. First of all, in vitro detection of multiple targets have been realized successfully based on the multiple-targeted GO nanocarrier with linear relationship ranging from 3 nM to 200 nM, as well as sensitive detection limit of 1.84 nM for manganese superoxide dismutase (Mn-SOD) mRNA and 2.45 nM for ß-actin mRNA. Additionally, this nanosensing platform composed of fluorescent labelled single strand DNA probes and GO nanocarrier can identify Mn-SOD mRNA and endogenous mRNA of ß-actin in living cancer cells, showing rapid response, high specificity, nuclease stability, and good biocompatibility during the cell imaging. Thirdly, changes of the expression levels of mRNA in living cells before or after the drug treatment can be monitored successfully. By using multiple ssDNA as probes and GO nanocarrier as the cellular delivery cargo, the proposed simultaneous multiple-targeted sensing platform will be of great potential as a powerful tool for intracellular trafficking process from basic research to clinical diagnosis.

Identifying the tobacco related free radicals by UPCC-QTOF-MS with radical trapping method in mainstream cigarette smoke.

Tobacco related free radicals (TFRs) in the cigarette smoke are specific classes of hazardous compounds that merit concern. In this study, we developed a hybrid method to identify TFRs directly based on ultra-performance convergence chromatography with a quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPCC-QTOF MS) combined spin trapping technique. The short-lived TFRs were stabilized successfully in situ through spin trapping procedure and UPCC was applied to facilitate efficient separation of complex derivative products. Coupling of orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA), UPCC-QTOF MS system enabled us to identify specific potential TFRs with exact chemical formula. Moreover, computational stimulations have been carried out to evaluate the optimized stability of TFRs. This work is a successful demonstration for the application of an advanced hyphenated technique for separation of TFRs with short detection time (less than 7min) and high throughput.