Ahmad Wajiha, Rana Nosheen Fatima, Riaz Sundus, Ahmad Nasir Mehmood, Hameed Maryam, Naeem Ayesha, Tahir Rabbiya
a Department of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences, School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering , National University of Science & Technology , Islamabad , Pakistan.
Nat Prod Res. 2018 Apr;32(8):968-971. doi: 10.1080/14786419.2017.1367778. Epub 2017 Sep 11.
Plant phytochemicals, such as flavonoids are in use for the development of optical biosensor. Benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P), is a pervasive environmental and dietary carcinogen. A fluorescent assay is developed using plant isolated flavonoid for the detection of B[a]P. High content saponins are excluded from the flavonoid-containing methanolic extract of Corchorus depressus by implying reduction of silver ions by saponins resulting in formation of silver nanoparticles. Isolated plant flavonoids are used to develop a spectrofluorometric assay for the detection of B[a]P. Decrease in the flavonoid fluorescence intensity by B[a]P is found to be based on both static and dynamic quenching. Specificity of the assay for B[a]P was tested for other carcinogens belonging to different classes of compounds. Flavonoids-mediated sensing can be implied for the development of new generation of nanoparticle-based biosensors that can be more sensitive and less susceptible to external factors, such as temperature and humidity.
