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Anthi J, Vaněčková E, Spasovová M, Houska M, Vrabcová M, Vogelová E, Holubová B, Vaisocherová-Lísalová H, Kolivoška V. Probing charge transfer through antifouling polymer brushes by electrochemical methods: The impact of supporting self-assembled monolayer chain length. Anal Chim Acta 2023; 1276:341640. [PMID: 37573118 DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2023.341640] [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] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2023] [Revised: 07/10/2023] [Accepted: 07/17/2023] [Indexed: 08/14/2023]
Abstract
Ultrathin surface-tethered polymer brushes represent attractive platforms for a wide range of sensing applications in strategically vital areas such as medicine, forensics, or security. The recent trends in such developments towards "real world conditions" highlighted the role of zwitterionic poly(carboxybetaine) (pCB) brushes which provide excellent antifouling properties combined with bio-functionalization capacity. Highly dense pCB brushes are usually prepared by the "grafting from" polymerization triggered by initiators on self-assembled monolayers (SAMs). Here, multi-methodological experimental studies are pursued to elucidate the impact of the alkanethiolate SAM chain length (C6, C8 and C11) on structural and functional properties of antifouling poly(carboxybetaine methacrylamide) (pCBMAA) brush. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) in a custom-made 3D printed cell employing [Ru(NH3)6]3+/2+ redox probe were used to investigate penetrability of SAM/pCBMAA bilayers for small molecules and interfacial charge transfer characteristics. The biofouling resistance of pCBMAA brushes was characterized by surface plasmon resonance; ellipsometry and FT-IRRAS spectroscopy were used to determine swelling and relative density of the brushes synthesized from initiator-bearing SAMs with varied carbon chain length. The SAM length was found to have a substantial impact on all studied characteristics; the highest value of charge transfer resistance (Rct) was observed for denser pCBMAA on longer-chain (C11) SAM when compared to shorter (C8/C6) SAMs. The observed high value of Rct for C11 implies a limitation for the analytical performance of electrochemical sensing methods. At the same time, the pCBMAA brushes on C11 SAM exhibited the best bio-fouling resistance among inspected systems. This demonstrates that proper selection of supporting structures for brushes is critical in the design of these assemblies for biosensing applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Judita Anthi
- FZU - Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Na Slovance 2, 182 00, Prague, Czech Republic; Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Technická 3, 166 28, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Eva Vaněčková
- J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Dolejškova 3, 182 23, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Monika Spasovová
- FZU - Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Na Slovance 2, 182 00, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Milan Houska
- FZU - Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Na Slovance 2, 182 00, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Markéta Vrabcová
- FZU - Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Na Slovance 2, 182 00, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Eva Vogelová
- FZU - Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Na Slovance 2, 182 00, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Barbora Holubová
- Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Technická 3, 166 28, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Hana Vaisocherová-Lísalová
- FZU - Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Na Slovance 2, 182 00, Prague, Czech Republic.
| | - Viliam Kolivoška
- J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Dolejškova 3, 182 23, Prague, Czech Republic.
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Pilipenco A, Forinová M, Mašková H, Hönig V, Palus M, Lynn Jr. NS, Víšová I, Vrabcová M, Houska M, Anthi J, Spasovová M, Mustacová J, Štěrba J, Dostálek J, Tung CP, Yang AS, Jack R, Dejneka A, Hajdu J, Vaisocherová-Lísalová H. Negligible risk of surface transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in public transportation. J Travel Med 2023; 30:taad065. [PMID: 37133444 PMCID: PMC10481417 DOI: 10.1093/jtm/taad065] [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] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2023] [Revised: 04/14/2023] [Accepted: 04/22/2023] [Indexed: 05/04/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Exposure to pathogens in public transport systems is a common means of spreading infection, mainly by inhaling aerosol or droplets from infected individuals. Such particles also contaminate surfaces, creating a potential surface-transmission pathway. METHODS A fast acoustic biosensor with an antifouling nano-coating was introduced to detect severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) on exposed surfaces in the Prague Public Transport System. Samples were measured directly without pre-treatment. Results with the sensor gave excellent agreement with parallel quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) measurements on 482 surface samples taken from actively used trams, buses, metro trains and platforms between 7 and 9 April 2021, in the middle of the lineage Alpha SARS-CoV-2 epidemic wave when 1 in 240 people were COVID-19 positive in Prague. RESULTS Only ten of the 482 surface swabs produced positive results and none of them contained virus particles capable of replication, indicating that positive samples contained inactive virus particles and/or fragments. Measurements of the rate of decay of SARS-CoV-2 on frequently touched surface materials showed that the virus did not remain viable longer than 1-4 h. The rate of inactivation was the fastest on rubber handrails in metro escalators and the slowest on hard-plastic seats, window glasses and stainless-steel grab rails. As a result of this study, Prague Public Transport Systems revised their cleaning protocols and the lengths of parking times during the pandemic. CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest that surface transmission played no or negligible role in spreading SARS-CoV-2 in Prague. The results also demonstrate the potential of the new biosensor to serve as a complementary screening tool in epidemic monitoring and prognosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alina Pilipenco
- Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Na Slovance 2, 182 00 Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Michala Forinová
- Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Na Slovance 2, 182 00 Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Hana Mašková
- Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Branišovská 1645/31a, 370 05 České Budějovice, Czech Republic
| | - Václav Hönig
- Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Branišovská 31, 370 05 České Budějovice, Czech Republic
- Department of Infectious Diseases and Preventive Medicine, Veterinary Research Institute, Hudcova 70, 621 00 Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Martin Palus
- Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Branišovská 31, 370 05 České Budějovice, Czech Republic
- Department of Infectious Diseases and Preventive Medicine, Veterinary Research Institute, Hudcova 70, 621 00 Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Nicholas Scott Lynn Jr.
- Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Na Slovance 2, 182 00 Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Ivana Víšová
- Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Na Slovance 2, 182 00 Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Markéta Vrabcová
- Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Na Slovance 2, 182 00 Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Milan Houska
- Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Na Slovance 2, 182 00 Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Judita Anthi
- Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Na Slovance 2, 182 00 Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Monika Spasovová
- Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Na Slovance 2, 182 00 Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Johana Mustacová
- Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Branišovská 1645/31a, 370 05 České Budějovice, Czech Republic
| | - Ján Štěrba
- Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Branišovská 1645/31a, 370 05 České Budějovice, Czech Republic
| | - Jakub Dostálek
- Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Na Slovance 2, 182 00 Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Chao-Ping Tung
- Genomics Research Center, Academia Sinica, 128 Academia Rd., Sec.2, Nankang Dist., Taipei 115, Taiwan
| | - An-Suei Yang
- Genomics Research Center, Academia Sinica, 128 Academia Rd., Sec.2, Nankang Dist., Taipei 115, Taiwan
| | - Rachael Jack
- The European Extreme Light Infrastructure, ERIC, Za Radnici 835, 25241 Dolní Břežany, Czech Republic
| | - Alexandr Dejneka
- Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Na Slovance 2, 182 00 Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Janos Hajdu
- The European Extreme Light Infrastructure, ERIC, Za Radnici 835, 25241 Dolní Břežany, Czech Republic
- Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Uppsala University, Box 596, 751 24 Uppsala, Sweden
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Forinová M, Pilipenco A, Víšová I, Lynn NS, Dostálek J, Mašková H, Hönig V, Palus M, Selinger M, Kočová P, Dyčka F, Štěrba J, Houska M, Vrabcová M, Horák P, Anthi J, Tung CP, Yu CM, Chen CY, Huang YC, Tsai PH, Lin SY, Hsu HJ, Yang AS, Dejneka A, Vaisocherová-Lísalová H. Functionalized Terpolymer-Brush-Based Biointerface with Improved Antifouling Properties for Ultra-Sensitive Direct Detection of Virus in Crude Clinical Samples. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 2021; 13:60612-60624. [PMID: 34902239 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.1c16930] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
New analytical techniques that overcome major drawbacks of current routinely used viral infection diagnosis methods, i.e., the long analysis time and laboriousness of real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and the insufficient sensitivity of "antigen tests", are urgently needed in the context of SARS-CoV-2 and other highly contagious viruses. Here, we report on an antifouling terpolymer-brush biointerface that enables the rapid and sensitive detection of SARS-CoV-2 in untreated clinical samples. The developed biointerface carries a tailored composition of zwitterionic and non-ionic moieties and allows for the significant improvement of antifouling capabilities when postmodified with biorecognition elements and exposed to complex media. When deployed on a surface of piezoelectric sensor and postmodified with human-cell-expressed antibodies specific to the nucleocapsid (N) protein of SARS-CoV-2, it made possible the quantitative analysis of untreated samples by a direct detection assay format without the need of additional amplification steps. Natively occurring N-protein-vRNA complexes, usually disrupted during the sample pre-treatment steps, were detected in the untreated clinical samples. This biosensor design improved the bioassay sensitivity to a clinically relevant limit of detection of 1.3 × 104 PFU/mL within a detection time of only 20 min. The high specificity toward N-protein-vRNA complexes was validated both by mass spectrometry and qRT-PCR. The performance characteristics were confirmed by qRT-PCR through a comparative study using a set of clinical nasopharyngeal swab samples. We further demonstrate the extraordinary fouling resistance of this biointerface through exposure to other commonly used crude biological samples (including blood plasma, oropharyngeal, stool, and nasopharyngeal swabs), measured via both the surface plasmon resonance and piezoelectric measurements, which highlights the potential to serve as a generic platform for a wide range of biosensing applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michala Forinová
- Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Na Slovance 2, 182 21 Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Alina Pilipenco
- Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Na Slovance 2, 182 21 Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Ivana Víšová
- Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Na Slovance 2, 182 21 Prague, Czech Republic
| | - N Scott Lynn
- Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Na Slovance 2, 182 21 Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Jakub Dostálek
- Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Na Slovance 2, 182 21 Prague, Czech Republic
- Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH, Konrad-Lorenz-Strasse 24, 3430 Tulln, Austria
| | - Hana Mašková
- Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Branišovská 31a, 370 05 České Budějovice, Czech Republic
| | - Václav Hönig
- Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre CAS, Branišovská 31, 370 05 České Budějovice, Czech Republic
- Veterinary Research Institute, Hudcova 70, 621 00 Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Martin Palus
- Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre CAS, Branišovská 31, 370 05 České Budějovice, Czech Republic
- Veterinary Research Institute, Hudcova 70, 621 00 Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Martin Selinger
- Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Branišovská 31a, 370 05 České Budějovice, Czech Republic
- Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre CAS, Branišovská 31, 370 05 České Budějovice, Czech Republic
| | - Pavlína Kočová
- Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Branišovská 31a, 370 05 České Budějovice, Czech Republic
| | - Filip Dyčka
- Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Branišovská 31a, 370 05 České Budějovice, Czech Republic
| | - Jan Štěrba
- Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Branišovská 31a, 370 05 České Budějovice, Czech Republic
| | - Milan Houska
- Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Na Slovance 2, 182 21 Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Markéta Vrabcová
- Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Na Slovance 2, 182 21 Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Petr Horák
- Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Na Slovance 2, 182 21 Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Judita Anthi
- Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Na Slovance 2, 182 21 Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Chao-Ping Tung
- Genomics Research Center, Academia Sinica, 128 Academia Rd., Sec.2, Nankang Dist., Taipei 115, Taiwan
| | - Chung-Ming Yu
- Genomics Research Center, Academia Sinica, 128 Academia Rd., Sec.2, Nankang Dist., Taipei 115, Taiwan
| | - Chi-Yung Chen
- Genomics Research Center, Academia Sinica, 128 Academia Rd., Sec.2, Nankang Dist., Taipei 115, Taiwan
| | - Yu-Chuan Huang
- Genomics Research Center, Academia Sinica, 128 Academia Rd., Sec.2, Nankang Dist., Taipei 115, Taiwan
| | - Pei-Hsun Tsai
- Genomics Research Center, Academia Sinica, 128 Academia Rd., Sec.2, Nankang Dist., Taipei 115, Taiwan
| | - Szu-Yu Lin
- Genomics Research Center, Academia Sinica, 128 Academia Rd., Sec.2, Nankang Dist., Taipei 115, Taiwan
| | - Hung-Ju Hsu
- Genomics Research Center, Academia Sinica, 128 Academia Rd., Sec.2, Nankang Dist., Taipei 115, Taiwan
| | - An-Suei Yang
- Genomics Research Center, Academia Sinica, 128 Academia Rd., Sec.2, Nankang Dist., Taipei 115, Taiwan
| | - Alexandr Dejneka
- Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Na Slovance 2, 182 21 Prague, Czech Republic
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Anthi J, Kolivoška V, Holubová B, Vaisocherová-Lísalová H. Probing polymer brushes with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy: a mini review. Biomater Sci 2021; 9:7379-7391. [PMID: 34693954 DOI: 10.1039/d1bm01330k] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
Polymer brushes are frequently used as surface-tethered antifouling layers in biosensors to improve sensor surface-analyte recognition in the presence of abundant non-target molecules in complex biological samples by suppressing nonspecific interactions. However, because brushes are complex systems highly responsive to changes in their surrounding environment, studying their properties remains a challenge. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) is an emerging method in this context. In this mini review, we aim to elucidate the potential of EIS for investigating the physicochemical properties and structural aspects of polymer brushes. The application of EIS in brush-based biosensors is also discussed. Most common principles employed in these biosensors are presented, as well as interpretation of EIS data obtained in such setups. Overall, we demonstrate that the EIS-polymer brush pairing has a considerable potential for providing new insights into brush functionalities and designing highly sensitive and specific biosensors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Judita Anthi
- Institute of Physics of the CAS, Na Slovance 2, 182 21 Prague, Czech Republic. .,Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Technická 3, 16628 Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Viliam Kolivoška
- J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Dolejškova 3, 182 23 Prague, Czech Republic.
| | - Barbora Holubová
- Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Technická 3, 16628 Prague, Czech Republic
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