1
|
Barra M, Tomaiuolo G, Villella VR, Esposito S, Liboà A, D'Angelo P, Marasso SL, Cocuzza M, Bertana V, Camilli E, Preziosi V. Organic Electrochemical Transistor Immuno-Sensors for Spike Protein Early Detection. Biosensors (Basel) 2023; 13:739. [PMID: 37504137 PMCID: PMC10377135 DOI: 10.3390/bios13070739] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2023] [Revised: 07/03/2023] [Accepted: 07/05/2023] [Indexed: 07/29/2023]
Abstract
The global COVID-19 pandemic has had severe consequences from the social and economic perspectives, compelling the scientific community to focus on the development of effective diagnostics that can combine a fast response and accurate sensitivity/specificity performance. Presently available commercial antigen-detecting rapid diagnostic tests (Ag-RDTs) are very fast, but still face significant criticisms, mainly related to their inability to amplify the protein signal. This translates to a limited sensitive outcome and, hence, a reduced ability to hamper the spread of SARS-CoV-2 infection. To answer the urgent need for novel platforms for the early, specific and highly sensitive detection of the virus, this paper deals with the use of organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) as very efficient ion-electron converters and amplifiers for the detection of spike proteins and their femtomolar concentration. The electrical response of the investigated OECTs was carefully analyzed, and the changes in the parameters associated with the transconductance (i.e., the slope of the transfer curves) in the gate voltage range between 0 and 0.3 V were found to be more clearly correlated with the spike protein concentration. Moreover, the functionalization of OECT-based biosensors with anti-spike and anti-nucleocapside proteins, the major proteins involved in the disease, demonstrated the specificity of these devices, whose potentialities should also be considered in light of the recent upsurge of the so-called "long COVID" syndrome.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Mario Barra
- CNR-SPIN, c/o Department of Physics ''Ettore Pancini'', P.le Tecchio, 80, 80125 Napoli, Italy
| | - Giovanna Tomaiuolo
- Department of Chemical, Materials and Production Engineering-University Federico II, P.le Tecchio 80, 80125 Napoli, Italy
- CEINGE, Advanced Biotechnologies, 80145 Napoli, Italy
| | - Valeria Rachela Villella
- Department of Chemical, Materials and Production Engineering-University Federico II, P.le Tecchio 80, 80125 Napoli, Italy
- CEINGE, Advanced Biotechnologies, 80145 Napoli, Italy
| | - Speranza Esposito
- Department of Chemical, Materials and Production Engineering-University Federico II, P.le Tecchio 80, 80125 Napoli, Italy
- CEINGE, Advanced Biotechnologies, 80145 Napoli, Italy
| | - Aris Liboà
- IMEM-CNR, Parco Area delle Scienze 37/A, 43124 Parma, Italy
- Graduate School in Science and Technologies of Materials and Department of Physics, University of Parma, Parco Area delle Scienze, 7/A, 43121 Parma, Italy
| | | | - Simone Luigi Marasso
- IMEM-CNR, Parco Area delle Scienze 37/A, 43124 Parma, Italy
- ChiLab, Department of Applied Science and Technology, Politecnico di Torino, 10129 Torino, Italy
| | - Matteo Cocuzza
- IMEM-CNR, Parco Area delle Scienze 37/A, 43124 Parma, Italy
- ChiLab, Department of Applied Science and Technology, Politecnico di Torino, 10129 Torino, Italy
| | - Valentina Bertana
- ChiLab, Department of Applied Science and Technology, Politecnico di Torino, 10129 Torino, Italy
| | - Elena Camilli
- ChiLab, Department of Applied Science and Technology, Politecnico di Torino, 10129 Torino, Italy
| | - Valentina Preziosi
- Department of Chemical, Materials and Production Engineering-University Federico II, P.le Tecchio 80, 80125 Napoli, Italy
- CEINGE, Advanced Biotechnologies, 80145 Napoli, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Preziosi V, Barra M, Tomaiuolo G, D'Angelo P, Marasso SL, Verna A, Cocuzza M, Cassinese A, Guido S. Organic electrochemical transistors as novel biosensing platforms to study the electrical response of whole blood and plasma. J Mater Chem B 2021; 10:87-95. [PMID: 34870646 DOI: 10.1039/d1tb01584b] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
In this paper, for the first time to the best of our knowledge, organic electrochemical transistors are employed to investigate the electrical response of human blood, plasma and alternative buffer solutions that inhibit red blood cell (RBC) aggregation. Our focus is on selecting a suitable electrolytic platform and the related operating conditions, where the RBC effect on the OECT response can be observed separately from the strong ionic environment of plasma in whole blood. The transient response of whole blood to pulse experiments is characterized by two time constants, which can be related to blood viscosity and to the capacitive coupling between the ionic and electronic components of the overall system. The role of capacitive effects, likely due to enhanced double-layer formation by negatively charged RBCs, is also confirmed by the increase of transconductance which was found in RBC suspensions as compared to the suspending buffer. Overall, the complex behavior found in these experiments provides new insights for the development of innovative blood-based sensing devices for biomedical applications.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Valentina Preziosi
- Department of Chemical, Materials and Production Engineering - University Federico II, P.le Tecchio 80, I-80125 Naples, Italy.
| | - Mario Barra
- CNR-SPIN, c/o Department of Physics "Ettore Pancini", P.le Tecchio, 80, I-80125 Napoli, Italy.
| | - Giovanna Tomaiuolo
- Department of Chemical, Materials and Production Engineering - University Federico II, P.le Tecchio 80, I-80125 Naples, Italy.
| | | | - Simone Luigi Marasso
- IMEM-CNR, Parco Area delle Scienze 37/A, I-43124 Parma, Italy.,Chi-Lab, Department of Applied Science and Technology, Politecnico di Torino, C.so Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy
| | - Alessio Verna
- Chi-Lab, Department of Applied Science and Technology, Politecnico di Torino, C.so Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy
| | - Matteo Cocuzza
- IMEM-CNR, Parco Area delle Scienze 37/A, I-43124 Parma, Italy.,Chi-Lab, Department of Applied Science and Technology, Politecnico di Torino, C.so Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy
| | - Antonio Cassinese
- CNR-SPIN, c/o Department of Physics "Ettore Pancini", P.le Tecchio, 80, I-80125 Napoli, Italy. .,Department of Physics "Ettore Pancini", University Federico II, P.le Tecchio 80, I-80125 Naples, Italy
| | - Stefano Guido
- Department of Chemical, Materials and Production Engineering - University Federico II, P.le Tecchio 80, I-80125 Naples, Italy. .,National Interuniversity Consortium for Materials Science and Technology (INSTM), 50121 Firenze, Italy.,CEINGE, Advanced Biotechnologies, 80145 Napoli, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
D’Angelo P, Barra M, Lombari P, Coppola A, Vurro D, Tarabella G, Marasso SL, Borriello M, Chianese F, Perna AF, Cassinese A, Ingrosso D. Homocysteine Solution-Induced Response in Aerosol Jet Printed OECTs by Means of Gold and Platinum Gate Electrodes. Int J Mol Sci 2021; 22:11507. [PMID: 34768938 PMCID: PMC8584102 DOI: 10.3390/ijms222111507] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2021] [Revised: 10/20/2021] [Accepted: 10/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Homocysteine (Hcy) is a non-protein, sulfur-containing amino acid, which is recognized as a possible risk factor for coronary artery and other pathologies when its levels in the blood exceed the normal range of between 5 and 12 μmol/L (hyperhomocysteinemia). At present, standard procedures in laboratory medicine, such as high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), are commonly employed for the quantitation of total Hcy (tHcy), i.e., the sum of the protein-bound (oxidized) and free (homocystine plus reduced Hcy) forms, in biological fluids (particularly, serum or plasma). Here, the response of Aerosol Jet-printed organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs), in the presence of either reduced (free) and oxidized Hcy-based solutions, was analyzed. Two different experimental protocols were followed to this end: the former consisting of gold (Au) electrodes' biothiol-induced thiolation, while the latter simply used bare platinum (Pt) electrodes. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) analysis was performed both to validate the gold thiolation protocol and to gain insights into the reduced Hcy sensing mechanism by the Au-gated OECTs, which provided a final limit of detection (LoD) of 80 nM. For the OECT response based on Platinum gate electrodes, on the other hand, a LoD of 180 nM was found in the presence of albumin-bound Hcy, with this being the most abundant oxidized Hcy-form (i.e., the protein-bound form) in physiological fluids. Despite the lack of any biochemical functionalization supporting the response selectivity, the findings discussed in this work highlight the potential role of OECT in the development of low-cost point-of-care (POC) electronic platforms that are suitable for the evaluation, in humans, of Hcy levels within the physiological range and in cases of hyperhomocysteinemia.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Pasquale D’Angelo
- IMEM-CNR, Parco Area delle Scienze 37/A, I 43124 Parma, Italy; (P.D.); (D.V.); (S.L.M.)
| | - Mario Barra
- CNR-SPIN, c/o Dipartimento di Fisica “Ettore Pancini”, P.le Tecchio 80, 80125 Naples, Italy;
| | - Patrizia Lombari
- Department of Precision Medicine, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, via L. De Crecchio 7, 80138 Naples, Italy; (P.L.); (A.C.); (M.B.); (D.I.)
- Department of Translational Medical Science, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, via Via Pansini, Bldg., 80131 Naples, Italy
| | - Annapaola Coppola
- Department of Precision Medicine, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, via L. De Crecchio 7, 80138 Naples, Italy; (P.L.); (A.C.); (M.B.); (D.I.)
| | - Davide Vurro
- IMEM-CNR, Parco Area delle Scienze 37/A, I 43124 Parma, Italy; (P.D.); (D.V.); (S.L.M.)
| | | | - Simone Luigi Marasso
- IMEM-CNR, Parco Area delle Scienze 37/A, I 43124 Parma, Italy; (P.D.); (D.V.); (S.L.M.)
| | - Margherita Borriello
- Department of Precision Medicine, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, via L. De Crecchio 7, 80138 Naples, Italy; (P.L.); (A.C.); (M.B.); (D.I.)
| | - Federico Chianese
- Physics Department, University of Naples “Federico II”, P.le Tecchio, 80, 80125 Naples, Italy;
| | - Alessandra F. Perna
- Department of Translational Medical Science, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, via Via Pansini, Bldg., 80131 Naples, Italy
| | - Antonio Cassinese
- CNR-SPIN, c/o Dipartimento di Fisica “Ettore Pancini”, P.le Tecchio 80, 80125 Naples, Italy;
- Physics Department, University of Naples “Federico II”, P.le Tecchio, 80, 80125 Naples, Italy;
- Istututo Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Napoli, P.le Tecchio, 80, 80125 Naples, Italy
| | - Diego Ingrosso
- Department of Precision Medicine, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, via L. De Crecchio 7, 80138 Naples, Italy; (P.L.); (A.C.); (M.B.); (D.I.)
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Pleines M, Kunz W, Zemb T, Benczédi D, Fieber W. Molecular factors governing the viscosity peak of giant micelles in the presence of salt and fragrances. J Colloid Interface Sci 2019; 537:682-693. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2018.11.072] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2018] [Revised: 11/16/2018] [Accepted: 11/17/2018] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
|
5
|
Caiazza C, Preziosi V, Tomaiuolo G, O'Sullivan D, Guida V, Guido S. Flow-induced concentration gradients in shear-banding of branched wormlike micellar solutions. J Colloid Interface Sci 2019; 534:695-703. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2018.09.060] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2018] [Revised: 09/14/2018] [Accepted: 09/17/2018] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
|
6
|
D'Angelo P, Tarabella G, Romeo A, Marasso SL, Verna A, Cocuzza M, Peruzzi C, Vurro D, Iannotta S. PEDOT:PSS Morphostructure and Ion-To-Electron Transduction and Amplification Mechanisms in Organic Electrochemical Transistors. Materials (Basel) 2018; 12:E9. [PMID: 30577510 PMCID: PMC6337112 DOI: 10.3390/ma12010009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2018] [Revised: 11/29/2018] [Accepted: 12/14/2018] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) represent a powerful and versatile type of organic-based device, widely used in biosensing and bioelectronics due to potential advantages in terms of cost, sensitivity, and system integration. The benchmark organic semiconductor they are based on is poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS), the electrical properties of which are reported to be strongly dependent on film morphology and structure. In particular, the literature demonstrates that film processing induces morphostructural changes in terms of conformational rearrangements in the PEDOT:PSS in-plane phase segregation and out-of-plane vertical separation between adjacent PEDOT-rich domains. Here, taking into account these indications, we show the thickness-dependent operation of OECTs, contextualizing it in terms of the role played by PEDOT:PSS film thickness in promoting film microstructure tuning upon controlled-atmosphere long-lasting thermal annealing (LTA). To do this, we compared the LTA-OECT response to that of OECTs with comparable channel thicknesses that were exposed to a rapid thermal annealing (RTA). We show that the LTA process on thicker films provided OECTs with an enhanced amplification capability. Conversely, on lower thicknesses, the LTA process induced a higher charge carrier modulation when the device was operated in sensing mode. The provided experimental characterization also shows how to optimize the OECT response by combining the control of the microstructure via solution processing and the effect of postdeposition processing.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Pasquale D'Angelo
- Istituto dei Materiali per l'Elettronica ed il Magnetismo, IMEM-CNR, Parco Area delle Scienze 37/A, 43124 Parma, Italy.
| | | | - Agostino Romeo
- Istituto dei Materiali per l'Elettronica ed il Magnetismo, IMEM-CNR, Parco Area delle Scienze 37/A, 43124 Parma, Italy.
| | - Simone Luigi Marasso
- Istituto dei Materiali per l'Elettronica ed il Magnetismo, IMEM-CNR, Parco Area delle Scienze 37/A, 43124 Parma, Italy.
- Chilab, Materials and Microsystems Laboratory, Department of Applied Science and Technology (DISAT), Politecnico di Torino, Via Lungo Piazza d'Armi 6, 10034 Chivasso (Torino), Italy.
| | - Alessio Verna
- Chilab, Materials and Microsystems Laboratory, Department of Applied Science and Technology (DISAT), Politecnico di Torino, Via Lungo Piazza d'Armi 6, 10034 Chivasso (Torino), Italy.
| | - Matteo Cocuzza
- Istituto dei Materiali per l'Elettronica ed il Magnetismo, IMEM-CNR, Parco Area delle Scienze 37/A, 43124 Parma, Italy.
- Chilab, Materials and Microsystems Laboratory, Department of Applied Science and Technology (DISAT), Politecnico di Torino, Via Lungo Piazza d'Armi 6, 10034 Chivasso (Torino), Italy.
| | - Carlotta Peruzzi
- Istituto dei Materiali per l'Elettronica ed il Magnetismo, IMEM-CNR, Parco Area delle Scienze 37/A, 43124 Parma, Italy.
| | - Davide Vurro
- Istituto dei Materiali per l'Elettronica ed il Magnetismo, IMEM-CNR, Parco Area delle Scienze 37/A, 43124 Parma, Italy.
| | - Salvatore Iannotta
- Istituto dei Materiali per l'Elettronica ed il Magnetismo, IMEM-CNR, Parco Area delle Scienze 37/A, 43124 Parma, Italy.
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Abstract
Understanding the formation and instability behavior of membranes is of fundamental interest and practical relevance to various biotechnological applications and self-assembly systems. Surfactant micellar membranes serve as a simple model system when surfactant molecules self-assemble into micellar structures under flow, but observing such process in real time is a major challenge due to limitations in spatiotemporal resolutions. We use a simple T-shaped microchannel to capture the formation and flow behavior of an ionic surfactant micro-micellar-membrane (μMM) when an aqueous stream of organic salt sodium salicylate (NaSal) meets a stream of cationic surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB). The μMM is shown to grow and become unstable depending on the flow rate, as characterized using micro-particle image velocimetry, fluorescence microscopy, flow birefringence, and bulk rheometry. We propose a simple model that accounts for the flow, elasticity and inertia of the μMM to analyze its flow behavior. Our experimental protocol can be easily replicated in conventional laboratories without the need of utilizing sophisticated equipment such as synchrotron small angle X-ray scattering and micro-electronics circuits. Our combined experimental and modeling results can be extrapolated to provide new insights to study the flow behavior and thermodynamic phases of lipid membranes, membrane proteins, and biological membranes.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Joshua J Cardiel
- Micro/Bio/Nanofluidics Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, Okinawa, Japan.
| | - Daisuke Takagi
- Department of Mathematics, University of Hawaií at Manoa, USA.
| | - Hsieh-Fu Tsai
- Micro/Bio/Nanofluidics Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, Okinawa, Japan.
| | - Amy Q Shen
- Micro/Bio/Nanofluidics Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, Okinawa, Japan.
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Abstract
Polymeric micelles stabilized by polyethylenimine–copper (C2H5N–Cu) coordination were described to improve the release property of water-insoluble anticancer drug.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yu Dai
- Faculty of Material Science and Chemistry
- China University of Geosciences
- Wuhan 430074
- China
| | - Xiaojin Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Biomedical Polymers of Ministry of Education
- Department of Chemistry
- Wuhan University
- Wuhan 430072
- China
| | - Renxi Zhuo
- Key Laboratory of Biomedical Polymers of Ministry of Education
- Department of Chemistry
- Wuhan University
- Wuhan 430072
- China
| |
Collapse
|