Systematic analysis of serum peptidase inhibitor 3 in psoriasis diagnosis and treatment.

BACKGROUND: Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease. To date, there are no serum biomarkers for psoriasis that have been validated to diagnose or treat psoriasis. METHODS: Peptidase inhibitor 3 (PI3) levels in serum were measured using chemiluminescence immunoassay (CLIA) in two independent cohorts including healthy controls (HC) and patients diagnosed with chronic urticaria (CU), chronic eczema (CE), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriatic arthritis (PsA), or psoriasis vulgaris (PV). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis determined the diagnostic performance of PI3 in patients with psoriasis. The correlation between PI3 levels and the Psoriasis Area Severity Index (PASI) score was analyzed using the Spearman correlation method. Additionally, the study evaluated PI3 expression and treatment response of PV patients 12 weeks before and after topical treatment with calcipotriol betamethasone and calcipotriol ointment (T#1) or topical therapy plus PSORI-CM01 granules (T#2). RESULTS: In cohort #1, PI3 levels effectively discriminate PV patients from HC and CU patients, with AUCs of 0.909 and 0.840, respectively. In cohort #2, AUCs for detecting PV patients among HC, CU, CE, SLE, and RA patients were 0.940, 0.926, 0.802, 0.989, and 0.951, respectively. For PsA patients, AUCs were 0.989, 0.986, 0.910, 1.000, and 0.984 compared to HC, CU, CE, SLE, and RA patients, respectively. In both cohorts, PI3 levels correlated significantly with PASI scores in PV patients (cohort #1, r = 0.433; cohort #2, r = 0.634) and PsA patients (cohort #2, r = 0.718). Moreover, univariate logistic regression analyses revealed that PV patients with higher PI3 expression had a significantly higher risk of treatment resistance, with an odds ratio of 3.45 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.54, 7.74, p = 0.003]. Finally, PI3 levels decreased nearly 35-fold more in the responder than in the non-responder group before and after treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Serological PI3 is a reliable biomarker for PV diagnosis and may have the potential to predict and monitor the progression of PV before and after treatment. Key Points • This study validated PI3's diagnostic performance in two independent psoriasis cohorts using CLIA. • PI3 expression is significantly correlated with the psoriasis severity and with patients who benefited from the treatments. • Serological PI3 is a reliable biomarker for psoriasis diagnosis and may have the potential to monitor the psoriasis progression with and without treatments.

An enzyme-free and label-free multiplex detection of miRNAs by entropy-driven circuit coupled with capillary electrophoresis.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are currently recognized as important biomarkers for the early diagnosis and prognostic treatment of cancer. Herein, we developed a simple and label-free method for the multiplex detection of miRNAs, based on entropy-driven circuit (EDC) amplification and non-gel sieving capillary electrophoresis-LED induced fluorescence detection (NGCE-LEDIF) platform. In this system, three different lengths of fuel chains were designed to catalyze three EDC, targeting miRNA-21, miRNA-155, and miRNA-10b, respectively. In the presence of target miRNA, the EDC cycle amplification reaction was triggered, generating numerous stable double-strands products (F-DNA/L-DNA). Since the three miRNAs correspond to three different lengths of F-DNA/L-DNA, they can be easily isolated and detected by NGCE. This strategy has good sensitivity, with detection limits of 68 amol, 292.2 amol, and 394 amol for miRNA-21, miRNA-155, and miRNA-10b, respectively. Additionally, this method has good specificity and can effectively distinguish single-base mismatches of miRNA. The recoveries of the three miRNAs in deproteinized healthy human serum ranged from 91.28 % to 108.4 %, with a relative standard deviation (RSD) of less than 7.9 %. This method was further applied to detect cellular miRNAs in human breast cancer (MCF-7) cell extracts, revealing an up-regulation of miRNA-21, miRNA-155, and miRNA-10b in MCF-7 cells. The successful spiked recovery in human serum and RNA extraction from MCF-7 cells underscores the practicality of this method. Therefore, this strategy has broad application prospects in biomedical research.

High-Performance Suspension Bead Sensor Based on Optical Tweezers and Immuno-Rolling Circle Amplification.

In recent years, optical tweezers have become an effective bioassay tool due to their unique advantages, especially in combination with suspension beads, which can be applied to develop a high-performance analysis platform capable of high-quality imaging and stable signal output. However, the optical tweezer-assisted bead analysis is still at the early stage, and further development of different favorable methods is in need. Herein, we have first developed the optical tweezer-assisted immuno-rolling circle amplification (immuno-RCA) on beads for protein detection. Prostate-specific antigen was selected as the model analyte, and the immunosandwich structure on beads was built by the high affinity of "antibody-antigen". The "protein-nucleic acid" signals were effectively converted through the covalent coupling procedure of antibodies and oligonucleotides, further initiating the RCA reaction to achieve signal amplification. The individual beads with the strong irregular Brownian motion in a fluid environment were eventually trapped by the optical tweezers to acquire the accurate and high-quality signal. Compared with the conventional immunoassay on beads, the sensitivity of the developed strategy was increased by 587 times with a limit of detection of 4.29 pg/mL (0.13 pM), as well as excellent specificity, stability, and reproducibility. This study developed the new optical tweezer-assisted beads imaging strategy for protein targets, which has great potential for being applied to clinical serology research and expands the application of optical tweezers in the bioassays.

Simultaneous detection of five mycotoxins in traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) by visual protein microarray.

The pollution of mycotoxins to crops such as traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) is an established problem throughout the world. Thus, mycotoxin determination in TCMs during production and processing is significantly necessary, which means rapid, sensitive and accurate analytical methods are needed. In this work, a new method of visual protein microarray based on a 96-well microtiter plate was proposed. Combined with a colorimetric method, five mycotoxins (ochratoxin A, zearalenone, deoxynivalenol, aflatoxin B1 and fumonisin B1) in 90 samples (TCMs) could be detected simultaneously within 30 minutes. The detection limits for the five mycotoxins are 0.25 µg/kg, 0.33 µg/kg, 11.84 µg/kg, 0.06 µg/kg, and 3.58 µg/kg, which can satisfy specified requirements of mycotoxins in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia (2020 edition) adequately. Under repeated conditions, experiments were carried out on actual samples to verify the feasibility of the method. The results showed that the recoveries of all analytes were between 70 % and 120 %, and the relative standard deviations were less than 15 %. In comparison to LC-MS/MS, this method significantly reduces the required time, and the colorimetric technique offers more direct results compared to fluorescence-based screening assays. This method exhibits substantial potential for the rapid and sensitive on-site detection of TCMs for quality control.

A versatile dilution-treatment-detection microfluidic chip platform for rapid In vitro lung cancer drug combination sensitivity evaluation.

Combination drug therapy represents an effective strategy for treating certain drug-resistant and intractable cancer cases. However, determining the optimal combination of drugs and dosages is challenging due to clonal diversity in patients' tumors and the lack of rapid drug sensitivity evaluation methods. Microfluidic technology offers promising solutions to this issue. In this study, we propose a versatile microfluidic chip platform capable of integrating all processes, including dilution, treatment, and detection, for in vitro drug sensitivity assays. This platform innovatively incorporates several modules, including automated discrete drug logarithmic concentration generation, on-chip cell perfusion culture, and parallel drug treatments of cancer cell models. Moreover, it is compatible with microplate readers or high-content imaging systems for swift detection and automated monitoring, simplifying on-chip drug evaluation. Proof of concept is demonstrated by assessing the in vitro potency of two drugs, cisplatin, and etoposide, against the lung adenocarcinoma A549 cell line, under both single-drug and combination treatment conditions. The findings reveal that, compared to conventional microplate approaches with static cultivation, this on-chip automated perfusion bioassays yield comparable IC50 values with lower variation and a 50 % reduction in drug preparation time. This versatile dilution-treatment-detection microfluidic platform offers a promising tool for rapid and precise drug assessments, facilitating in vitro drug sensitivity evaluation in personalized cancer chemotherapy.

Machine learning-assisted matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry toward rapid classification of milk products.

This study established a method for rapid classification of milk products by combining MALDI-TOF MS analysis with machine learning techniques. The analysis of 2 different types of milk products was used as an example. To select key variables as potential markers, integrated machine learning strategies based on 6 feature selection techniques combined with support vector machine (SVM) classifier were implemented to screen the informative features and classify the milk samples. The models were evaluated and compared by accuracy, Akaike information criterion (AIC), and Bayesian information criterion (BIC). The results showed the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) combined with SVM performs best, with prediction accuracy of 100% ± 0%, AIC of -360 ± 22, and BIC of -345 ± 22. Six features were selected by LASSO and identified based on the available protein molecular mass data. These results indicate that MALDI-TOF MS coupled with machine learning technique could be used to search for potential key targets for authentication and quality control of food products.

A label-free aptasensing method for detecting SARS-CoV-2 virus antigen by using dumbbell probe-mediated circle-to-circle amplification.

Controlling the spread of pathogen requires an efficient and accurate diagnosis. Compared with nucleic acid and antibody detection, antigen assays are more convenient to meet clinical diagnostic needs. However, antigen detection is often difficult to achieve high sensitivity in a limited time. In this work, a novel aptasensing method was designed for the purpose of SARS-CoV-2 antigen detection, using a dumbbell padlock probe-mediated circle-to-circle amplification (C2CA) approach. A sandwich complex of antibody-antigen-aptamer is first formed on the magnetic beads. Afterwards, the signal is amplified by a C2CA reaction involving two tandem rolling circle amplifications. Without special instruments or nanomaterials, a detection limit of 575 fg/mL for S1 protein can be achieved in less than 2 h. In the case of the spike pseudovirus SARS-CoV-2 in artificial saliva, the detection limit is 272 TU/µL, which is much lower than average viral load in patients. Therefore, our method provides a timely, efficient and accurate approach for the clinical diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2. It also opens up the application of C2CA in aptamer sensing and antigen detection.

A novel label-free capillary electrophoresis LED-induced fluorescence platform based on catalytic hairpin assembly for sensitive detection of multiple circulating tumor DNA.

Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) is a highly promising biomarker for the early diagnosis and treatment of gastric cancer (GC). However, there is still a lack of effective and practical ctDNA detection methods. In this work, a simple and economical capillary non-gel sieving electrophoresis-LED induced fluorescence detection (NGCE-LEDIF) platform coupled with catalytic hairpin assembly (CHA) as the signal amplification strategy is proposed for quantitative detection of PIK3CA E542K and TP53 (two types of ctDNA associated with GC). We have reasonably designed two pairs of programmable oligonucleotide hairpin probes for PIK3CA E542K and TP53. Using a one-pot reaction, the presence of ctDNA triggers the cyclic amplification of CHA, forming numerous thermodynamically stable H1/H2 double-strands. The H1/H2 double-stranded DNA catalyzed by PIK3CA E542K and TP53 can be easily separated by NGCE due to their different lengths, enabling simultaneous detection of both ctDNAs. Under optimal experimental conditions, the detection limits of this strategy for detecting GC-related biomarkers PIK3CA E542K and TP53 are 20.35 pM and 19.61 pM, respectively, and can achieve 730-fold signal amplification. This strategy has a good recovery in the serum matrix. The results of this study show that this strategy has significant advantages such as high selectivity, a simple process, no special instruments and equipment, no need for fluorescence modification of hairpin probes in advance, high automation, low cost, and minimal sample consumption. This provides a powerful method for the detection of trace cancer biomarkers in the serum matrix with good application prospects.

In-Depth Serum Proteomics Reveals the Trajectory of Hallmarks of Cancer in Hepatitis B Virus-Related Liver Diseases.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a prevalent cancer in China, with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) and liver cirrhosis (LC) being high-risk factors for developing HCC. Here, we determined the serum proteomes (762 proteins) of 125 healthy controls and Hepatitis B virus-infected CHB, LC, and HCC patients and constructed the first cancerous trajectory of liver diseases. The results not only reveal that the majority of altered biological processes were involved in the hallmarks of cancer (inflammation, metastasis, metabolism, vasculature, and coagulation) but also identify potential therapeutic targets in cancerous pathways (i.e., IL17 signaling pathway). Notably, the biomarker panels for detecting HCC in CHB and LC high-risk populations were further developed using machine learning in two cohorts comprised of 200 samples (discovery cohort = 125 and validation cohort = 75). The protein signatures significantly improved the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of HCC (CHB discovery and validation cohort = 0.953 and 0.891, respectively; LC discovery and validation cohort = 0.966 and 0.818, respectively) compared to using the traditional biomarker, alpha-fetoprotein, alone. Finally, selected biomarkers were validated with parallel reaction monitoring mass spectrometry in an additional cohort (n = 120). Altogether, our results provide fundamental insights into the continuous changes of cancer biology processes in liver diseases and identify candidate protein targets for early detection and intervention.

An ultrasensitive fluorescence aptasensor for SARS-CoV-2 antigen based on hyperbranched rolling circle amplification.

Sensitive and accurate diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection at early stages can help to attenuate the effects of the COVID-19. Compared to RNA and antibodies detection, direct detection of viral antigens could reflect infectivity more appropriately. However, it is still a great challenge to construct a convenient, accurate and sensitive biosensor with a suitable molecular recognition element for SARS-CoV-2 antigens. Herein, we report a HRCA-based aptasensor for simple, ultrasensitive and quantitative detection of SARS-CoV-2 S1 protein and pseudovirus. The aptamer sequence used here is selected from several published aptamers by enzyme-linked oligonucleotide assay and molecular docking simulation. The sensor forms an antibody-target-aptamer sandwich complex on the surface of microplates and elicits HRCA for fluorescent detection. Without complicated operations or special instruments and reagents, the aptasensor can detect S1 protein with a LOD of 89.7 fg/mL in the linear range of 100 fg/mL to 1 µg/mL. And it can also detect SARS-CoV-2 spike pseudovirus in artificial saliva with a LOD of 51 TU/µL. Therefore, this simple and ultrasensitive aptasensor has the potential to detect SARS-CoV-2 infection at early stages. It may improve the timeliness and accuracy of SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis and demonstrate a strategy to conduct aptasensors for other targets.

Web hybrid chain reaction enhanced fluorescent magnetic bead array for digital nucleic acid detection.

The detection of biomarkers at low concentrations is important in clinical diagnostic analyses and has attracted continuous research. In this work, absolute quantification of hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA was achieved using magnetic beads with isothermal, enzyme-free DNA nanostructure for fluorescence amplification. Firstly, the DNA-functionalized bead captured the target nucleic acid in the form of sandwich hybridization, and the individual target lighted up the entire bead by isothermal web hybridization chain reaction (wHCR). After the microarray scanning, the target nucleic acids can be digitally quantified based on the Poisson statistics. Therefore, the fluorescent bead assay enabled precise detection of HBV DNA down to 5 fM level without external calibration curves. Moreover, this method not only specifically distinguished single-base mismatched sequences, but also obtained the quantitative detection of HBV DNA in serum samples. Unlike routine digital detection usually combined with complex compartment partitioning operations, the amplification structure immobilized on beads can be conducted in microcentrifuge tubes with a volume of microliter scale. This work expands the application of magnetic beads in the digital quantitative detection via enzyme-free and isothermal method.

Highly-sensitive and simple fluorescent aptasensor for 17 b-estradiol detection coupled with HCR-HRP structure.

As an important kind of environmental endocrine disruptors, 17 ß -Estradiol (E2) plays a major role in affecting the growth of human including sexual characters, pregnancy system, etc. In the modern society, with the threat of abuse in breeding, it is imperative to design sensitive methods for detecting low concentration of E2 in environment. In this work, we constructed a highly sensitive and simple fluorescent aptasenor for detecting E2 via amplification of hybridization chain reaction (HCR) and horseradish peroxidase (HRP). Through the competitions between complementary strand (cmDNA) and E2 to E2 aptamer modified on magnetic beads, the unbound cmDNA would be collected and captured by polystyrene microspheres to induce HCR which brought abundant biotin sites. Subsequently, benefit from the excellent catalytic performance of streptavidin-horseradish peroxidase (SA-HRP), the highly sensitive fluorescence signals could be obtained in low concentration of E2. Under the optimal conditions, the prospered method for E2 detection was shown a good liner range from 1 to 100 pg/mL, with the lower detecting limit of 0.2 pg/mL compared with previous work. In addition, the recovery rates tested in the real samples of milk and water were 99.20%-108.06% and 91.07%-106.13%. In all, the assay may provide a perspective way for highly sensitive detection for various contaminants in the real samples.

Fully Automatic Multi-Class Multi-Residue Analysis of Veterinary Drugs Simultaneously in an Integrated Chip-MS Platform.

Microfluidic chip analysis has great potential advantages such as high integration, fast speed analysis, and automatic operation and is widely used not only in biological fields but also in many other analytical areas such as agriculture and food safety. Herein, a fully automatic multi-class multi-residue analysis of veterinary drugs simultaneously in an integrated chip-mass spectrometry (chip-MS) platform was developed. The developed microfluidic chip platform integrated three modules including the extraction and filtration module, "pass-through" clean-up module, and online evaporation module. The resulting chip has been coupled to a MS detector successfully, in which 23 kinds of residues in five classes were simultaneously qualitatively and quantitatively detected without chromatographic separation, obtaining the limits of detection of the spiked milk sample in the range of 0.23-4.13 ng/mL and the recovery rate in the range from 71.7 to 118.0% under optimized conditions. The microfluidic chip system developed in this study provided a new idea for the development of detection chips and exhibited considerable potential in the point-of-care testing in milk.

MoS2-Assisted LDI Mass Spectrometry for the Detection of Small Molecules and Quantitative Analysis of Sulfonamides in Serum.

A two-dimensional MoS2 nanosheet was prepared by a chemical exfoliation method and served as an excellent matrix for the detection of small molecules by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). In comparison with organic matrices (CHCA, 3-AQ) and a graphene matrix, we found that a MoS2 matrix showed better performance in analysis of amino acids, peptides, fatty acids, and sulfonamides. A systematic comparison of the MoS2 matrix with both ion modes showed that mass spectra produced in negative ion mode featured a corresponding single deprotonated ion, which was rather different from the complex multiple alkali metal addition peaks present in positive ion mode. In addition, better sensitivity and reproducibility were obtained in negative ion mode. The ionization mechanism of MoS2 as a matrix in negative ion mode was further discussed. The deproton peak intensity of the analyte fatty acid decreased after the addition of the hole-scavenger KSCN, indicating that the ionization of the fatty acid was caused by the Auger complex effect of MoS2 and electron injection. Experiments have shown that the MoS2 matrix detects small molecules with good repeatability and can perform semiquantitative analysis of sulfonamides. Finally, the MoS2 matrix was employed for quantitative determination of sulfamethoxine in serum samples by an internal standard method. This MoS2-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MoS2-assisted LDI MS) method provides a simple, rapid, high-throughput approach to evaluate the drug levels in the patient serum and can achieve convenient drug therapy monitoring.

A Cascaded DNA Circuit in Bead Arrays for Quantitative Single-Cell MicroRNA Analysis.

Single-cell microRNA (miRNA) analysis helps people understand the causes of diseases and formulate new disease treatment strategies. However, miRNA from a single cell is usually very rare and requires signal amplification for accurate quantification. Here, to amplify the signal, we constructed the cascaded DNA circuits consisting of catalytic hairpin assembly and hybrid chain reaction into the bead array platform, on which the uniformly distributed beads were adopted for miRNA quantification. After exponential signal amplification, a consistent linear correlation between the percentage of fluorescent beads and the copy number of miRNA was detected. The proposed bead array can achieve ultrahigh sensitivity as low as 60 copies of miR-155 and high specificity for distinguishing single nucleotide differences. This method has been successfully applied to the quantitative detection of miRNA in a single cancer cell. The high sensitivity, programmability, and simple workflow of the bead array chip will give a huge advantage in basic and clinical research.

A fluorescent microarray platform based on catalytic hairpin assembly for MicroRNAs detection.

The DNA microarray has distinctive advantages of high-throughput and less complicated operations, but tends to have a relatively low sensitivity. Catalytic hairpin assembly (CHA) is one of the most promising enzyme-free, isothermal DNA circuit for high efficient signal amplification. Here, a microarray-based catalytic hairpin assembly (mi-CHA) biosensing method has been developed to detect various miRNAs in a single test simultaneously. The target miRNA can trigger conformational transformations of hairpin-structured DNA probes on the chip surface and lead to the specific signal amplification. A significant advantage of this approach is that each duplex produced by the solid-phase CHA will be immobilized on the certain location of the chip and release fluorescent signal via the universal domain, eliminating the requirement of different fluorophores. This method has manifested a high detection sensitivity of human cancer-associated miRNAs (miR-21 and miR-155) down to 1.33 fM and promised a high specificity to distinguish single-base mismatches. Furthermore, the practicability of this method was demonstrated by analyzing target miRNAs in human serum and cancer cells. The experimental results suggest that the proposed method has high-throughput analytical potential and could be applied to many other clinical diagnosis.

Accomplishment of one-step specific PCR and evaluated SELEX process by a dual-microfluidic amplified system.

One of the main obstacles for systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX) failure is the generation of a non-specific product, as selection-inherent amplification procedures tend to form by-products, which prevents the enrichment of target-binding aptamers. Herein, we reported a dual-microfluidic amplified system (dual-MAS) based on the real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) detection chip and the large volume PCR chip for one-step specific PCR and for evaluating the SELEX process. First, it is a simple method to accomplish analytical PCR and amplification PCR in one step, and the optimal number of cycles for generating the specific PCR product is the cycles when the slope of the linear amplification period of the real-time PCR curve begins to decrease. Second, the time used by the dual-MAS for generating a specific PCR product is reduced to 30 min, and the multi-functional dual-MAS can simultaneously evaluate the SELEX process by providing important information on the amounts of enriched sequences and the library diversity in every round of SELEX. In addition, pollution contamination and fragment loss can be significantly avoided in the closed chip. Last, the specific PCR product, the amounts of enriched sequences, and the library diversity can be obtained for every single SELEX in just 30 min. Compared with current methods, this system can reduce the time for generating a specific PCR product and SELEX, and it is easier to choose the optimal number of cycles for a specific PCR product. In a word, it is a sensitive, simple, and rapid strategy to improve the specificity of the PCR product and make the process of SELEX in a controlled way.

Screening aptamers for serine ß-lactamase-expressing bacteria with Precision-SELEX.

Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase 2 (KPC-2) is a serine ß-lactamase that can hydrolyze almost all ß-lactam antibiotics. The drug resistant problem of bacteria expressing carbapenemases is currently a global problem, therefore, rapid and specific detection of pathogenic bacteria is urgent. In order to obtain an aptamer that can specifically recognize bacteria expressing KPC-2, we have established a method called Precision-SELEX. Precision-SELEX combined protein SELEX and bacterium SELEX. In this method, KPC-2 was used as a target protein, and Escherichia coli expressing KPC-2 (KPC-2 E. coli) was used as a target bacterium. After precision-SELEX, the same aptamer named XK-10 that can recognize KPC-2 and KPC-2 E. coli was obtained while the screening process could be shortened to 4 rounds. Dissociation equilibrium constants were calculated as 0.81 nM by SPR. In addition, XK-10 could specifically bind to KPC-2 E. coli, which was confirmed through flow cytometry and molecular Docking Simulations. The high-content imaging method could detect KPC-2 E. coli. In all, the Precision-SELEX provides an accurate and efficient method to screening aptamers for bacteria.

On-line multi-residue analysis of fluoroquinolones and amantadine based on an integrated microfluidic chip coupled to triple quadrupole mass spectrometry.

An on-line multi-residue qualitative and quantitative analysis method for fluoroquinolones and amantadine using an integrated microfluidic chip was developed prior to directly coupling to triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (QQQ-MS). Six parallel channels consisting of sample filtration units and micro solid phase extraction (micro-SPE) columns were present in the specifically designed microfluidic device. Firstly, the impurities in the sample solution were trapped by the micropillars in the filtration units. The solution passed through the micro-SPE units packed with hydrophilic-lipophilic balanced (HLB) particles, and then the two classes of drugs were enriched. After washing, the targets were eluted and immediately electrosprayed for MS analysis. This approach allowed effective filtration, enrichment, elution, and MS detection without the introduction of an additional separation step after SPE. Direct electrospray ionization (ESI)-MS in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode could not only ensure the high sensitivity of quantitative analysis, but also achieved accurate qualitative analysis towards targets using the MRM ratios, reducing the possibility of false positives. Good linear relationships were obtained by the internal standard (IS) method with a linear range of 1-200 ng mL-1 (R2 > 0.992). The mean recoveries of the eight target analytes were from 85.2% to 122% with the relative standard deviation (RSD) ranging from 5.6% to 20.3%. All this demonstrated that the developed microfluidic device could be a useful tool for rapid detection in the field of food safety.

A novel method combining aptamer-Ag10NPs based microfluidic biochip with bright field imaging for detection of KPC-2-expressing bacteria.

The ß-lactam drugs resistance poses a serious threat to human health throughout the world. Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase 2 (KPC-2) is a carbapenemase that produced in bacteria can hydrolyze carbapenems, which typically considered as the antibiotics of last resort. Therefore, there is an urgent need to quickly and accurately detect whether bacteria express KPC-2. In this paper, a PDMS/glass microfluidic biochip integrated with aptamer-modified Ag10NPs nano-biosensors was developed for rapid, simple and specific pathogenic bacteria detection, more importantly, the biochip was combined with bright field imaging, then the captured bacteria could be observed and counted directly without using extra chemical labeling. KPC-2-expressing Escherichia coli (KPC-2 E.coli) was used as the target bacterium with a detected limit of 102 CFU and capture efficiency exceeded 90%. This method is remarkably specific towards KPC-2 E.coli over other non-resistant bacteria, and pathogen assay only takes ∼1 h to complete in a ready-to-use microfluidic biochip. Furthermore, the effective capture and fast counting of microfluidic biochip system demonstrates its potential for the rapid detection of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.