Issue 8, 2019

Sensitive CVG-AFS/ICP-MS label-free nucleic acid and protein assays based on a selective cation exchange reaction and simple filtration separation

Abstract

Nowadays, label-free atomic spectrometric bioassays are attracting great research interest because of their advantages of low cost, simple design and operation, etc. Herein, a novel and simple chemical vapor generation-atomic fluorescence spectrometry (CVG-AFS)/inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) label-free detection method is presented for highly sensitive and selective assay of DNA and proteins. This work mainly combined a phenomenon that CdTe quantum dots (QDs) can be used to selectively differentiate free Hg2+ and the T–Hg2+–T complex, with the use of simple membrane filtration separation to improve the performance of the label-free bioassay methods. Upon hybridization with the DNA/protein (carcinoembryonic antigen, CEA) target, the T–Hg2+–T hairpin structure was opened and Hg2+ was released; this initiated the cation exchange reaction between Hg2+ and CdTe QDs which released Cd2+ simultaneously. Subsequently, the free Cd2+ was separated by the filtration membrane without separating the CdTe QDs, which could then be separated from the sample matrices for the CVG-AFS/ICP-MS assay. Under the optimal conditions, this method possessed high sensitivity for DNA and CEA determination with limits of detection (LODs) of 0.2 nM and 0.2 ng mL−1, and linear dynamic ranges of 1–160 nM and 0.5–20 ng mL−1, respectively, and exhibited excellent DNA sequence specificity and protein selectivity. This method preserves the advantages of the label-free atomic spectrometric bioassay, and combined with the selective cation exchange reaction and simple filtration separation to improve the performance.

Graphical abstract: Sensitive CVG-AFS/ICP-MS label-free nucleic acid and protein assays based on a selective cation exchange reaction and simple filtration separation

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
08 Okt 2018
Accepted
26 Feb 2019
First published
18 Mär 2019
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Analyst, 2019,144, 2797-2802

Sensitive CVG-AFS/ICP-MS label-free nucleic acid and protein assays based on a selective cation exchange reaction and simple filtration separation

P. Chen, K. Huang, R. Dai, E. Sawyer, K. Sun, B. Ying, X. Wei and J. Geng, Analyst, 2019, 144, 2797 DOI: 10.1039/C8AN01926F

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