Journal of Pharmaceutical Analysis (Oct 2020)

A carbon nanoparticle-peptide fluorescent sensor custom-made for simple and sensitive detection of trypsin

  • Shanshan Hou,
  • Tingting Feng,
  • Na Zhao,
  • Jiaxin Zhang,
  • Huibin Wang,
  • Ning Liang,
  • Longshan Zhao

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpha.2020.08.009
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 5
pp. 482 – 489

Abstract

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Herein, we report a novel sensor to detect trypsin using a purpose-designed fluorescein-labelled peptide with negatively charged carbon nanoparticles (CNPs) modified by acid oxidation. The fluorescence of the fluorescein-labelled peptide was quenched by CNPs. The sensor reacted with trypsin to cleave the peptide, resulting in the release of the dye moiety and a substantial increase in fluorescence intensity, which was dose- and time-dependent, and trypsin could be quantified accordingly. Correspondingly, the biosensor has led to the development of a convenient and efficient fluorescent method to measure trypsin activity, with a detection limit of 0.7 μg/mL. The method allows rapid determination of trypsin activity in the normal and acute pancreatitis range, suitable for point-of-care testing. Furthermore, the applicability of the method has been demonstrated by detecting trypsin in spiked urine samples.

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