An innovative method for the detection of alpha synuclein, a potential biomarker of Parkinson's disease: quartz tuning fork-based mass sensitive immunosensor design.

An innovative biosensing fabrication strategy has been demonstrated for the first time using a quartz tuning fork (QTF) to develop a practical immunosensor for sensitive, selective and practical analysis of alpha synuclein protein (SYN alpha), a potential biomarker of Parkinson's disease. Functionalization of gold-coated QTFs was carried out in 2 steps by forming a self-assembled monolayer with 4-aminothiophenol (4-ATP) and conjugation of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). The selective determination range for SYN alpha of the developed biosensor system is 1-500 ng mL-1 in accordance with the resonance frequency shifts associated with a limit of detection of 0.098 ng mL-1. The changes in surface morphology and elemental composition were evaluated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). The remarkable point of the study is that this QTF based mass sensitive biosensor system can capture the SYN alpha target protein in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples with recoveries ranging from 92% to 104%.

Electrochemical detection of lactate produced by foodborne presumptive lactic acid bacteria.

The detection of lactate is an important indicator of the freshness, stability, and storage stability of products as well as the degree of fermentation in the food industry. In addition, it can be used as a diagnostic tool in patients' healthcare since it is known that the lactate level in blood increases in some pathological conditions. Thus, the determination of lactate level plays an important role in not only the food industry but also in health fields. As a result, biosensor technologies, which are quick, cheap, and easy to use, have become important for lactate detection. In the current study, amperometric lactate biosensors based on lactate oxidase immobilization (with Nafion 5% wt) were designed and the limit of detection, linear range, and sensitivity values were determined to be 31 µM, 50-350 µM, and 0.04 µA µM-1 cm-2, respectively. Then, it was used for the measurement of lactic acid that produced by six different and morphologically identified presumptive lactic acid bacteria (LAB) which are isolated from different naturally fermented cheese samples. The biosensors were then used to successfully perform lactate measurements within 3 min for each sample, even though a few of them were out of the limit of detection. Thus, electrochemical biosensors should be used as an alternative and quick solutions for the measurement of lactate metabolites rather than the traditional methods which require long working hours. This is the first study to use a biosensor to measure lactate produced by foodborne LAB in a real sample.

Development of a ß-cyclodextrin-modified gold nanoparticle-assisted electromembrane extraction method followed by capillary electrophoresis for methadone determination in plasma.

In this study, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) modified with ß-cyclodextrin (ß-CD) were used to assist with electromembrane extraction (EME) and were coupled with capillary electrophoresis (CE) and ultraviolet (UV) detection (CE-UV) for the extraction and measurement of methadone from plasma samples. A ß-CD-modified AuNP-reinforced hollow fiber (HF) was utilized in this work. The ß-CD-modified AuNPs act as an absorbent and provide an extra pathway for the analyte extraction. For obtaining the effect of the presence of ß-CD-modified AuNPs in the HF pores, the extraction efficiency of the EME and ß-CD-modified AuNPs/EME techniques were compared. Different parameters influencing the extraction efficacy of the EME and ß-CD-modified AuNPs/EME methods were optimized. Optimal extractions were performed with 1-octanol as the organic solvent in the supported liquid membrane (SLM), with an applied voltage of 10 V as the driving force across the SLM, and with pH 7.0 in the donor solutions with a stirring speed of 1000 rpm after 20 min and 25 min for the ß-CD-modified AuNPs/EME and EME methods, respectively. Under optimal conditions, compared with the EME method, the ß-CD-modified AuNPs/EME method exhibited increased extraction efficacy in a short time. The ß-CD-modified AuNPs/EME technique demonstrated a lower limit of detection (5.0 ng mL-1), higher extraction recovery (68%), and a more optimal preconcentration factor (135). Furthermore, this method was successfully utilized for measuring methadone in real plasma samples.

Electromembrane extraction of tramadol from exhaled breath condensate and its liquid chromatographic analysis.

Tramadol has extracted from the exhaled breath condensate (EBC) samples through the supported liquid membrane consisting of 2-nitrophenyl octyl ether impregnated in the hollow fiber wall, and the lumen of the hollow fiber was filled with 20 µL of an acceptor phase. Under the optimum conditions of the electromembrane extraction, i.e. the stirring speed of 750 rpm, extraction time of 20 min, acceptor pH at 1.0, donor phase pH at 6.0, and an applied voltage of 170 V across the supported liquid membrane, a preconcentration factor of 128-fold with a extraction recovery of 64% was achieved. Acceptable linearity was obtained in the tramadol concentration range of 5-1000 ng mL-1 (R2 = 0.9999) with a limit of detection of 1.5 ng mL-1 and a limit of quantitation of 5 ng mL-1. The relative standard deviations for the intra-day and inter-day replications were obtained between 0.4% and 2.5%. The validated technique was successfully used to determine tramadol in real EBC samples.

An overview on nanostructure-modified supported liquid membranes for the electromembrane extraction method.

Electromembrane extraction (EME) is an extraction method on the micro scale, in which charged compounds are extracted from a donor phase (sample solution) into an acceptor phase via a supported liquid membrane (SLM) containing a water-immiscible organic solvent. To enhance the extraction efficiency and selectivity in this method, some studies have focused on the modification of the SLM, and thus many strategies have been reported for this purpose. One of these techniques is the introduction of nanomaterials in the SLM structure, which can enhance the extraction efficiency. In the current study, the different nanostructures used for SLM modification in the EME method are reviewed. Furthermore, the related analytical parameters of the developed techniques are classified and tabulated. It is hoped that this review will motivate further research in this field using other nanostructures.

Ribavirin shows antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2 and downregulates the activity of TMPRSS2 and the expression of ACE2 in vitro.

Ribavirin is a guanosine analog with broad-spectrum antiviral activity against RNA viruses. Based on this, we aimed to show the anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity of this drug molecule via in vitro, in silico, and molecular techniques. Ribavirin showed antiviral activity in Vero E6 cells following SARS-CoV-2 infection, whereas the drug itself did not show any toxic effect over the concentration range tested. In silico analysis suggested that ribavirin has a broad-spectrum impact on SARS-CoV-2, acting at different viral proteins. According to the detailed molecular techniques, ribavirin was shown to decrease the expression of TMPRSS2 at both mRNA and protein levels 48 h after treatment. The suppressive effect of ribavirin in ACE2 protein expression was shown to be dependent on cell types. Finally, proteolytic activity assays showed that ribavirin also showed an inhibitory effect on the TMPRSS2 enzyme. Based on these results, we hypothesized that ribavirin may inhibit the expression of TMPRSS2 by modulating the formation of inhibitory G-quadruplex structures at the TMPRSS2 promoter. As a conclusion, ribavirin is a potential antiviral drug for the treatment against SARS-CoV-2, and it interferes with the effects of TMPRSS2 and ACE2 expression.

Nanocarriers Used Most in Drug Delivery and Drug Release: Nanohydrogel, Chitosan, Graphene, and Solid Lipid.

Over the past few years, nanocarriers have become an ideal solution for safe and efficient drug delivery and release. This is mainly due to the extraordinary characteristics that nanomaterials exhibit when compared with their larger scaled forms. A variety of these carriers are more popular due to their high biocompatibility, ensuring greater efficacy especially in cancer treatments. Nanocrystal, liposomal, and micelle designs of these materials as nanocarriers for drug delivery and release have been extensively researched throughout the past 50 years. Successful applications have not only ensured a greater focus on therapeutic development but also created a new solution available in the pharmaceutical market. Herein, a brief review of research studies focused on nanocarrier materials and designs to achieve superior benefits of drugs for disease treatments is presented. Nanohydrogels, chitosan, graphene oxide, and solid lipid nanoparticle nanocarrier designs and applications are selectively given due to the great attention they have gained from being highly biocompatible and easy-to-manipulate nanocarrier options from organic and inorganic nanocarrier materials. Each summary exhibits the progress that has been achieved to date. With greater understanding of the current state in the development process of these nanomaterials, there is a rising chance to provide better treatment to patients, which is a desperate need in pharmaceutical technologies.

Application of chitosan as biocompatible polysaccharide in quantification of some benzodiazepines affecting sleep disorders: A new platform for preparation of bioactive scaffolds.

Herein, a reusable and time-saving strategy for the electrochemical polymerization of dopamine (EPD) in the presence of chitosan is reported. In this work, biocompatible polymer chitosan (CS) was electrodeposited on the surface of PDA modified glassy carbon electrode using layer-by-layer strategy. Owing to the abundant catechol and amine groups in the PDA layer, uniform gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) are deposited onto the POLY(DA-CS) and can effectively prevent the recombination of electron-hole pairs generated from photo-electrocatalysis and transfer the captured electrons to participate in the electrocatalytic reaction process. Compared with POLY(DA-CS), the as-prepared POLY(DA-CS)-AuNPs organic-inorganic hybrid exhibit electrochemical sensitivity for the detection of some benzodiazepines and display excellent durability. Furthermore, the mussel-inspired electropolymerization strategy and the fast EPD-Au nanoparticle decorating process presented herein can be readily extended to various biomedical and pharmaceutical analysis. It is the adaptation of the established POLY(DA-CS)-Au NPs organic-inorganic hybrid for a selective, robust, and generalizable sensing system that is the emphasis of this work.

Targeting and sensing of some cancer cells using folate bioreceptor functionalized nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots.

In recent years, study of folate receptor (FR) expression related to targeting, drug delivery and counting of tumoral cells have been followed. In this work, a fast and simple strategy was reported to determine the FR expressed cancer cells based on the selective bonding of the folic acid/folate (FA) to the FR-positive tumor cells. The folate decorated Nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots (N-GQDs) were utilized as selective targeting of the MKN 45 cells. Fluorescent microscopy imaging investigations revealed that the produced FA conjugated N-GQDs could specifically attach to the target FR-positive tumor cells. Due to the fluorescence emission of N-GQDs, the developed cytosensor is free from attaching any fluorescent ligand i.e. Rhodamine B to capture the florescence microscopy images and also flow cytometry analysis. The fabricated cytosensor possesses a dynamic range from 100 to 7.0 × 104 cell·mL-1 with high selectivity. Furthermore, the cytosensor also could visualized the MCF 7 and HT 29 cells where the dynamic ranges were 100 to 1.0 × 104 and 500 to 4.0 × 104 cells·mL-1, respectively. In vitro toxicity tests has shown low toxicity of the synthesized N-GQDs where the minimum viability is 68%. The proposed FA-N-GQDs based cytosensor provides a novel platform for detection of MKN 45, HT 29 and MCF 7 cancer cell lines which could be used in multi-channel cancer diagnosis biodevice.

Separation and elution order of the enantiomers of some ß-agonists using polysaccharide-based chiral columns and normal phase eluents by high-performance liquid chromatography.

In this study separation of enantiomers of 8 chiral ß-agonists were studied on 6 polysaccharide-based chiral columns in polar-organic and alcohol-hydrocarbon mobile phases. No separation of enantiomers was observed on any column with polar-organic mobile phase eluents such as pure methanol, ethanol or acetonitrile. Most of the chiral analytes were resolved into enantiomers when alcohol-hydrocarbon type mobile phases were used. The most successful column was Lux Cellulose-2 on which all 8 chiral analytes were baseline resolved into enantiomers at least with one mobile phase used. The reversal of enantiomer elution order was observed dependent on the chemistry of the chiral selector and the composition of the mobile phase.

Antioxidant activity of indole-based melatonin analogues in erythrocytes and their voltammetric characterization.

Melatonin (MLT) is a strong free-radical scavenger, which protects the body from the effects of oxidants. In recent years, MLT have been described resulting in much attention in the development of synthetic compounds possessing. As a part of our ongoing study a series of indole-based MLT analogue hydrazide/hydrazone derivatives were synthesized, characterized and in vitro antioxidant activity was investigated by evaluating their reducing effect against oxidation of a redox sensitive fluorescent probe. Membrane stabilizing effect of all compounds was also investigated by lactate dehydrogenase leakage assay. Furthermore voltammetric methods have been applied to the synthesized compounds to characterize oxidation potentials to get insight into their metabolism owing to the oxidation mechanisms taking place at the electrode and in the body share similar principles.