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Determination of metallothioneins based on the enhanced peroxidase-like activity of mercury-coated gold nanoparticles aggregated by metallothioneins

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Abstract

We report on a photometric method for the determination of the metallothioneins (MTs). It is known that citrate capped gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) coated with traces of mercury possess peroxidase-like properties that can catalyze the oxidation of 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline- 6-sulfonate) (ABTS) to form a blue product in acetate buffer of pH 4.5. It is found that if the AuNPs are first aggregated by the cysteine-rich metallothioneins, the peroxidase-like properties of the resulting aggregates (AuNP-Hg-MTs) cause a largely accelerated oxidation of ABTS. The effect of adding MTs to such a solution is used to quantify the MTs by a kinetic assay. Changes in absorbance at 416 nm are linearly correlated to the concentration of MTs in the 4.3 to 49 nM range, and the detection limit is 1.3 nM. The method was successfully applied to the determination of MTs in (spiked) human urine. The strategy may pave the way for related detection platforms.

The gold nanoparticle (AuNP)-Hg-metallothionein (MT) hybrid possesses a stronger peroxidase-like activity than the AuNP-Hg complex. It can catalyze H2O2-mediated oxidation of ABTS along with the change of the absorbance of the assay system, which is directly proportional to the concentration of MTs in the linear range.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21177052), the Science and Technology Program of Hunan Province in China (No. 2010SK3039) and the Construct Program of the Key Discipline (Public Health and Preventive Medicine) in Hunan Province.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Public Health, University of South China, Hengyang, 421001, People’s Republic of China

    Xue-Jiao Li, Yong-Sheng Wang, Sheng-Yuan Yang, Xian Tang, Bin Zhou, Xiao-Feng Wang, Yu-Feng Zhu, Yan-Qin Huang & Shun-Zhen He

  2. College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha, 410208, People’s Republic of China

    Lu Liu

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  1. Xue-Jiao Li
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Correspondence to Yong-Sheng Wang.

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Li, XJ., Wang, YS., Yang, SY. et al. Determination of metallothioneins based on the enhanced peroxidase-like activity of mercury-coated gold nanoparticles aggregated by metallothioneins. Microchim Acta 183, 2123–2129 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-016-1828-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-016-1828-1

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