Determination of protoberberine alkaloids in medicinal plants based on acidic potassium permanganate chemiluminescence system

A simple method was established to determine protoberberine alkaloids in Cortex Phellodendri and Rhizoma Coptidis based on an acidic potassium permanganate chemiluminescence (CL) system. The optimum conditions for the CL reaction between protoberberine alkaloids and potassium permanganate were studied in detail. Under the optimum conditions, the linear response ranges for berberine, palmatine and jatrorrhizine were 0.038–7.27, 0.031–18.1 and 0.012–3.61 μg/mL with detection limits of 0.005, 0.004 and 0.0007 μg/mL, respectively. This method was successfully applied to determine the content of protoberberine alkaloids (calculated using berberine as an index) in Cortex Phellodendri and Rhizoma Coptidis. In addition, a possible mechanism of this CL reaction was proposed on the basis of the investigation of CL, UV and fluorescent spectra of protoberberine alkaloids in acidic solution containing potassium permanganate. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A signal-on electrochemiluminescence aptamer biosensor for the detection of ultratrace thrombin based on junction-probe

A novel signal-on junction-probe electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL) aptamer biosensor has been developed for the detection of ultratrace thrombin based on a structure-switching ECL-quenching mechanism. The ECL aptamer biosensor comprises two main parts: an ECL substrate and an ECL intensity switch. The ECL substrate was made by modifying the complex of Au nanoparticle and ruthenium (II) tris-bipyridine (Ru(bpy)(3)(2+)-AuNPs) on the surface of gold electrode (GE), and the ECL intensity switch contains three probes designed according to the "junction-probe" strategy. The first probe is capture probe (Cp) which was functionalized with a thiol group at one end and covalently attached to Ru(bpy)(3)(2+)-AuNPs modified GE through S-Au bonding. The second probe is aptamer probe (Ap), which containing 15-base anti-thrombin DNA aptamer. The third one is ferrocene-labeled probe (Fp), which was functionalized with ferrocene tag at one end. We demonstrated that, in the absence of thrombin, Cp, Ap and Fp will hybridize to form a ternary "Y" junction structure and resulted in a quenching of ECL of Ru(bpy)(3)(2+). Whereas, in the presence of thrombin, the Ap prefers to form the G-quadruplex aptamer-thrombin complex and lead to an obvious recovery of ECL of Ru(bpy)(3)(2+), which provided a sensing platform for the detection of thrombin. Using this reusable sensing platform, a simple, rapid and selective signal-on ECL aptamer biosensor for the detection of thrombin with a detection limit of 8.0×10(-15) M has been developed. The success in the present biosensor served as a significant step towards the development of monitoring ultratrace thrombin in clinical detection.     

A G-quadruplex based label-free fluorescent biosensor for lead ion

Many Pb(2+) biosensors based on Pb(2+)-specific RNA-cleaving DNAzyme have been developed in the past years. However, many of them have limited practical use because of high cost (e.g., enzymes), complicated processing and the use of unstable molecules (e.g., RNA). In this study, a novel label-free fluorescent biosensor for Pb(2+) was proposed based on Pb(2+)-induced allosteric G-quadruplex (PS2.M). In the presence of K(+), N-methyl mesoporphyrin IX (NMM) could bind to K(+)-stabilized G-quadruplexes, giving rise to high fluorescence. On addition of Pb(2+), Pb(2+) competitively binded to K(+)-stabilized G-quadruplexes to form more compact DNA folds. The Pb(2+)-stabilized G-quadruplexes did not bind to NMM, which resulted in fluorescence decrease. This allowed us to utilize PS2.M for quantitative analysis of Pb(2+) using the NMM-G-quadruplex system by convenient "mix-and-detect" protocol. The fluorescence emission ratio (F(0)/F) showed a good linear response toward Pb(2+) over the range from 5.0 nM to 1.0 μM with a limit of detection of 1.0 nM. This proposed biosensor was simple and cost efficiency in design and in operation with high sensitivity and selectivity. We validated the practicality of this biosensor for the determination of Pb(2+) in lake water samples.     

The variation of REE (rare earth elements) patterns in soil-grown plants: a new proxy for the source of rare earth elements and silicon in plants

Rare earth elements (REEs) in five species of soil-grown plants (Taxodium japonicum, Populus sieboldii, Sasa nipponica, Thea sinensis and Vicia villosa) and in the soil on which each plant grew were determined with an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) in order to observe the variation in the distribution of REEs and to elucidate their source in soil-grown plants. The plant samples were divided into root (secondary root and main root), trunk (stem) and leaf; the soils into water soluble (soil_{soluble fraction}), HCl and HNO₃ soluble (soil_{non-silicate fraction}) and HF soluble (soil_{silicate fraction}). The REE abundances of samples were compared using REE patterns where the abundances were normalized to those of a chondrite and plotted on a logarithmic scale against the atomic number. All the plants showed similar REE patterns independent of species and location, and a W-shape variation (W-type tetrad effect) and abundance depletion of cerium (negative Ce anomaly) were found in each REE patterns of plants, more conspicuous tetrad effect being observed in HREE (heavier rare earth elements) region than in LREE (lighter rare earth elements) region. The overall variation of REE patterns of each secondary root was not similar to that of soil_{soluble fraction}, but similar to that of soil_{silicate fraction} except for the tetrad effect and Ce anomaly. The REE patterns can be interpreted by the idea that plants of different species take in REEs and Si from different parts in the soil. The results of this study seem to imply that Sasa nipponica and Vicia villosa take in free REEs and Si rather directly from silicate in the soil, and that a majority of REEs and Si in Taxodium japonicum and Thea sinensis are originated from the soluble fraction in the soil.     

A novel Tb(3+)-promoted G-quadruplex-hemin DNAzyme for the development of label-free visual biosensors

A Tb(3+)-promoted G-quadruplex-hemin DNAzyme was first reported in here. We demonstrated that trace Tb(3+) is able to induce guanine-rich DNA (5'-TGGGTAGGGCGGGTTGGGAAA-3') folding into a compact antiparallel G-quadruplex structure and thus allows the formation of G-quadruplex-hemin DNAzyme. The proposed DNAzyme can effectively catalyze the H(2)O(2)-mediated oxidation of TMB (3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine sulfate) and leads to a change from colorless to blue in solution color, which provides a sensing platform for the label-free visual detection of Tb(3+). Using above sensing platform, a selective and sensitive label-free visual method for the detection of trace Tb(3+) was developed. The proposed method can be used to detect as low as 1.13×10(-7) M of Tb(3+) by the naked eyes observation and 9.0×10(-9) M of Tb(3+) by UV-vis spectrophotometry with a better stability and reproducibility. Compared with K(+)-promoted G-quadruplex-hemin DNAzyme reported in previous study, the novel Tb(3+)-promoted G-quadruplex-hemin DNAzyme has much higher peroxidase activity and better specificity, which lead to a great potential in the development of optical, electrochemical and chemiluminescence DNAzyme-based biosensors.