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Fluorescence turn-on detection of alkaline phosphatase activity based on controlled release of PEI-capped Cu nanoclusters from MnO2 nanosheets

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Abstract

A fluorescence turn-on assay for alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity is developed through the controlled release of polyethyleneimine-capped copper nanoclusters (PEI-capped CuNCs) from the MnO2 nanosheets. In an aqueous solution, the positively charged PEI-capped CuNCs could be adsorbed onto the surface of the negatively charged MnO2 nanosheets. Such adsorption through favorable electrostatic interactions could efficiently quench the nanocluster fluorescence emission via resonance energy transfer from the PEI-capped CuNCs to the MnO2 nanosheets. 2-Phospho-l-ascorbic acid (AAP) could be hydrolyzed to l-ascorbic acid (AA) in the presence of ALP. AA could reduce MnO2 into Mn2+ and trigger the disintegration of the MnO2 nanosheets. As a result, the CuNCs were released and the quenched fluorescence was recovered efficiently. The detection strategy is simple, inexpensive, sensitive, selective, with low toxicity, and has better biocompatibility. The newly fabricated biosensor for ALP activity will potentially make it a robust candidate for numerous biological and biomedical applications.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21561162004, 21550110196, 21374077, and 51573131), the Natural Science Foundation of Jilin Province (20150101183JC), the Hong Kong Research Grants Council and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (N_CityU113/15), and the Science and Technology Development Project of Jilin Province (International Collaboration Program, 20160414040GH).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China

    Yunyi Zhang, Cuiyun Zhang & Shichun Jiang

  2. State Key Laboratory of Electroanalytical Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, Jilin, 130022, China

    Yunyi Zhang, Yongxin Li, Cuiyun Zhang, Qingfeng Zhang, Xinan Huang, Meiding Yang, Sohail Anjum Shahzad & Cong Yu

  3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Yunyi Zhang, Cuiyun Zhang, Qingfeng Zhang, Meiding Yang & Cong Yu

  4. Department of Chemistry, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Abbottabad, 22060, Pakistan

    Sohail Anjum Shahzad

  5. Department of Biology and Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China

    Kenneth Kam-Wing Lo

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  1. Yunyi Zhang
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  9. Cong Yu
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Correspondence to Kenneth Kam-Wing Lo, Cong Yu or Shichun Jiang.

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Zhang, Y., Li, Y., Zhang, C. et al. Fluorescence turn-on detection of alkaline phosphatase activity based on controlled release of PEI-capped Cu nanoclusters from MnO2 nanosheets. Anal Bioanal Chem 409, 4771–4778 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-017-0420-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-017-0420-9

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