Detection of hydrogen peroxide in blood serum using tyrosine-stabilized silver nanoparticles

Abstract

Determination of hydrogen peroxide concentration in biological fluids (e.g. human serum) is a diagnostic task of great importance. As one of reactive oxygen species, increased concentration of hydrogen peroxide causes oxidative stress, leading to cell damage. Although multiple ways to determine the concentration of hydrogen peroxide in solution had already been suggested, various spectrophotometric approaches usually only provide millimolar concentrations. However, hydrogen peroxide concentrations in healthy cells rarely exceed nanomolar range. Therefore, development of a simple method for determination of hydrogen peroxide concentration is an important task for modern diagnostic medicine. In our experimental work we investigated the sensitivity of silver nanoparticles to hydrogen peroxide present in solution. An amino acid L-tyrosine was used as a stabilizing agent for silver nanoparticles. In aqueous solutions, addition of hydrogen peroxide to silver nanoparticles led to an interesting effect of increase of absorption at the plasmon resonance band of the nanoparticles. The increase in absorption as a function of concentration was found to be linear, and we were able to determine hydrogen peroxide concentrations as low as 150 nanomoles. We also tested this sensor in the presence of blood serum proteins. In this case, the opposite effect of linear decrease of absorbance was observed, which was used to reliably detect micromolar concentrations of hydrogen peroxide. Thus, L-tyrosine stabilized silver nanoparticles can be used as a simple and cost-effective sensor for determination of hydrogen peroxide concentration in blood serum. This work was supported by the Russian Science Foundation grant 20-73-10029.

Speaker

Nikolai Shekhovtsov
Department of Molecular Biophysics and Polymer Physics, Physical faculty, St Petersburg University, Saint-Petersburg, Russia
Russia

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