Point-of-Care Determination of Acetaminophen Levels with Multi-Hydrogen Bond Manipulated Single-Molecule Recognition (eMuHSiR)

May 22, 2018

Title

Point-of-Care Determination of Acetaminophen Levels with Multi-Hydrogen Bond Manipulated Single-Molecule Recognition (eMuHSiR)

Author

Yan Zhang, Zhongyuan Huang, Letao Wang, Chunming Wang, Changde Zhang, Tomas Wiese, Guangdi Wang, Kevin Riley, Zhe Wang

Year

2018

Journal

Analytical Chemistry

Abstract

This work aims to face the challenge of monitoring small molecule drugs accurately and rapidly for point-of-care (POC) diagnosis in current clinical settings. Overdose of acetaminophen (AP), a commonly used over the counter (OTC) analgesic drug, has been determined to be a major cause of acute liver failure in the US and the UK. However, there is no rapid and accurate detection method available for this drug in the emergency room. The present study examined an AP sensing strategy that relies on a previously unexplored strong interaction between AP and the arginine (Arg) molecule. It was found that as many as 4 hydrogen bonds can be formed between one Arg molecule and one AP molecule. By taking advantages of this structural selectivity and high tenability of hydrogen bonds, Arg, immobilized on a graphene surface via electrostatic interactions, was utilized to structurally capture AP. Interestingly, bonded AP still remained the perfect electrochemical activities. The extent of Arg–AP bonds was quantified using a newly designed electrochemical (EC) sensor. To verify the feasibility of this novel assay, based on multihydrogen bond manipulated single-molecule recognition (eMuHSiR), both pharmaceutical and serum sample were examined. In commercial tablet measurement, no significant difference was seen between the results of eMuHSiR and other standard methods. For measuring AP concentration in the mice blood, the substances in serum, such as sugars and fats, would not bring any interference to the eMuHSiR in a wide concentration range. This eMuHSiR method opens the way for future development of small molecule detection for the POC testing.

Instrument

J-1500

Keywords

Fluorescence, Sensor, Pharmaceutical, Biochemistry