A nanoscale electrochemical guanine DNA-biosensor based on a flower-like nanocomposite of Tb-doped ZnO for the sensitive determination of pemetrexed

Pemetrexed is an antineoplastic drug used in chemotherapeutic treatments, especially in malignant mesothelioma and non-small cell lung carcinoma, but can also cause a variety of complications, like stomach pain, nausea, burning, vomiting, numbness, and tingling, emphasizing the need for an approach to quantify the drug in biological matrices. Herein, a DNA-based biosensor was introduced for pemetrexed determination. A hydrothermal approach was used for synthesizing flower-like nanoparticles (NPs) of zinc oxide (ZnO) doped with Tb (FL-NP Tb3+/ZnO). Moreover, energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), zeta potential, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses were used for characterizing the as-prepared nanocomposite. According to the impedance analysis, FL-NP Tb3+/ZnO was accompanied by very good electrochemical functions for a simple transfer of electrons. In the case of the immobilization of double-stranded deoxyribonucleic acid (ds-DNA) on the FL-NP Tb3+/ZnO and polypyrrole (PP)-modified pencil graphite electrode (ds-DNA/PP/FL-NP Tb3+/ZnO/PGE), a considerable enhancement was found in the electrochemical oxidation of guanine in ds-DNA residue bases. Since there was an interaction between ds-DNA and pemetrexed, the voltammetric current of guanine over the ds-DNA/PP/FL-NP Tb3+/ZnO/PGE declined in the presence of pemetrexed in the electrolytic solution. Moreover, under optimum conditions (25 mg L-1 of ds-DNA and 10 min incubation time, in acetate buffer at 25 °C), a linear decrease in the guanine signal was observed on the ds-DNA/PP/FL-NP Tb3+/ZnO/PGE as the pemetrexed concentration increased in the range from 0.001 μM to 175.0 μM with a limit of detection of 0.17 nM. Finally, the new DNA-based biosensor was successfully used for determining pemetrexed in real samples, indicating its application potential.