Issue 29, 2020

Lipid-based lyotropic liquid crystalline phase transitions as a novel assay platform using birefringence as the visual signal output

Abstract

Amphiphilic lipids can often form various lipid-based lyotropic liquid crystalline phases when they are exposed to aqueous environments, which includes the inverse hexagonal (H2), inverse cubic (V2), inverse discontinuous cubic (I2) and lamellar (Lα) phases. Their different interactions with crossed-polarised light make some phases appear bright and some dark, which offers great potential in developing a novel universal assay platform using birefringence as the visual signal output. Here, we have developed a novel strategy for constructing an assay platform using lyotropic liquid crystalline phases as the signal transducer and using changes in their birefringence upon exposure to lipase as the signal output. The hydrolysis of the ester group of glyceryl monooleate (GMO) by lipase induced a phase transition from cubic phase to hexagonal phase and consequently “turned on” the birefringence as the signal output. The change in the intensity of the birefringence depended on both the exposure time and concentration of lipase. The streptavidin–biotin affinity was utilised to demonstrate the potential of the birefringence assay platform, using free biotin as the model analyte, biotinylated lipase and streptavidin-coated magnetic beads in the competitive format. A semi-quantitative assay with a detection limit of 5 μg mL−1 to free biotin as the model analyte was achieved in the visual birefringence mode. This study demonstrated a proof-of-concept lyotropic assay platform with birefringence as the visual signal output that could be deployed as an electronics- and colour-free diagnostic device for a wide range of applications, for example to indicate the presence of toxins in water.

Graphical abstract: Lipid-based lyotropic liquid crystalline phase transitions as a novel assay platform using birefringence as the visual signal output

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
10 Yan 2020
Accepted
19 Kul 2020
First published
30 Kul 2020

J. Mater. Chem. B, 2020,8, 6277-6285

Lipid-based lyotropic liquid crystalline phase transitions as a novel assay platform using birefringence as the visual signal output

Q. Liu, Y. Xiao, A. Hawley and B. J. Boyd, J. Mater. Chem. B, 2020, 8, 6277 DOI: 10.1039/D0TB00355G

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