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Electrochemiluminescence sensor based on methionine-modified gold nanoclusters for highly sensitive determination of dopamine released by cells

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Abstract

The electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL) of methionine stabilized gold nanoclusters (Met-AuNCs) is presented. The Met-AuNCs were used to modify a glassy carbon electrode (Met-AuNC/GCE) which is shown to exhibit a stable and strong cathodic ECL signal (at −1.86 V) when using potassium peroxodisulfate (K2S2O8) as the coreactant in aqueous solution of pH 7.4. Compared to a GCE modified with BSA-AuNCs, the ECL intensity of Met-AuNCs is 5-fold enhanced. The possible ECL reaction mechanism of the ECL system was studied, and a method for the determination of dopamine (DA) was worked out. The modified GCE has a linear response in the 0.1 to 4 μM DA concentration range, with a detection limit of 32 nM (at an S/N ratio of 3). The method was applied to the determination of DA released by PC12 cells. In our perception, the Met-AuNC/GCE provides a viable new tool in ECL based bioanalysis that also paves new routes to the design and application of new sensors.

The electrochemiluminescence (ECL) sensor based on methionine stabilized gold nanocluster modified glassy carbon electrode (Met-AuNC/GCE) using potassium peroxodisulfate (K2S2O8) as the coreactant in aqueous solution was fabricated for the highly sensitive detection of dopamine (DA) released by cells.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21175023, 21405015), the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (NCET-12-0618), the Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province (2014 J05092, 2016Y9054), and the Medical Elite Cultivation Program of Fujian (2013-ZQN-ZD-25).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmaceutical Analysis, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, 350122, China

    Huaping Peng, Haohua Deng, Meili Jian, Ailin Liu, Fengqiao Bai, Xinhua Lin & Wei Chen

  2. Higher Educational Key Laboratory for Nano Biomedical Technology of Fujian Province, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, 350122, China

    Huaping Peng, Haohua Deng, Meili Jian, Ailin Liu, Fengqiao Bai, Xinhua Lin & Wei Chen

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  1. Huaping Peng
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  2. Haohua Deng
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Correspondence to Wei Chen.

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Huaping Peng and Haohua Deng contributed equally to this work

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Peng, H., Deng, H., Jian, M. et al. Electrochemiluminescence sensor based on methionine-modified gold nanoclusters for highly sensitive determination of dopamine released by cells. Microchim Acta 184, 735–743 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-016-2058-2

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