Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Tunku Abdul Rahman University College, Jalan Genting Klang, 53300, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Jalan Broga, 43500, Semenyih, Selangor, Malaysia.
Sci Rep. 2021 Nov 18;11(1):22536. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-99498-0.
Graphene-based materials have gained remarkable attention in numerous disciplines owing to their unique electrochemical properties. Out of various hybridized nanocomposites, graphene-zirconia nanocomposite (GZ) was distinctive due to its biocompatibility. Zirconia nanoparticles serve as spacers that reduce the stacking of graphene and improve the electrochemical performance of the material. Considering that lungs and skin suffer the greatest exposure to nanoparticles, this study aimed to evaluate the cytotoxicity of the as-synthesized GZ nanocomposites on MRC5 (lung cells) and HaCaT (skin cells) via morphological observation and cell viability assay using 3-(4,5 dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-(2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) tetrazolium (MTT). GZ-treated cells showed a comparable proliferation rate and morphology with untreated cells under microscopic evaluation. Based on MTT results, the IC values of GZ were > 500 µg/ml for MRC5 and HaCaT cells. The excellent biocompatibility was the supremacy of GZ over other nanocomposites applied as electrode materials in biosensors. GZ was functionalized with biolinker for the detection of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA). The proposed immunosensor exhibited good responses towards CEA detection, with a 4.25 pg/ml LOD and correlation coefficient of R = 0.99 within a linear working range from 0.01 to 10 ng/ml. The performance of the immunosensor to detect CEA present in human serum was also evaluated. Good recovery of CEA was found, suggesting that the proposed immunosensor possess a high affinity to CEA even in a complex biological matrix, rendering it a promising sensing platform for real sample analysis and open a new way for the detection of cancer-associated proteins.
基于石墨烯的材料因其独特的电化学性质而在众多学科中引起了广泛关注。在各种杂交纳米复合材料中，石墨烯-氧化锆纳米复合材料（GZ）因其生物相容性而独具特色。氧化锆纳米颗粒作为间隔物，减少了石墨烯的堆叠并改善了材料的电化学性能。考虑到肺部和皮肤受到纳米颗粒的最大暴露，本研究旨在通过形态观察和使用 3-（4,5-二甲基噻唑-2-基）-（2,5-二苯基四唑溴化）四唑（MTT）的细胞活力测定来评估合成的 GZ 纳米复合材料对 MRC5（肺细胞）和 HaCaT（皮肤细胞）的细胞毒性。GZ 处理的细胞在显微镜下评估时，其增殖率和形态与未经处理的细胞相似。根据 MTT 结果，GZ 对 MRC5 和 HaCaT 细胞的 IC 值均>500µg/ml。卓越的生物相容性是 GZ 优于其他作为生物传感器中电极材料应用的纳米复合材料的优势。GZ 用生物连接子进行了功能化，用于检测癌胚抗原（CEA）。所提出的免疫传感器对 CEA 的检测表现出良好的响应，LOD 为 4.25pg/ml，线性工作范围内从 0.01 到 10ng/ml 的相关系数 R=0.99。还评估了该免疫传感器对人血清中 CEA 的检测性能。发现 CEA 的回收率良好，表明所提出的免疫传感器即使在复杂的生物基质中也对 CEA 具有高亲和力，为实际样品分析提供了有前途的传感平台，并为癌症相关蛋白的检测开辟了新途径。
