TY - JOUR A1 - Sternbaek, L. A1 - Kimani, Martha Wamaitha A1 - Gawlitza, Kornelia A1 - Rurack, Knut A1 - Janicke, B. A1 - Alm, K. A1 - Gjörloff-Wingren, A. A1 - Eriksson, H. T1 - Molecularly Imprinted Polymers Exhibit Low Cytotoxic and Inflammatory Properties in Macrophages In Vitro JF - Applied Sciences N2 - Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) against sialic acid (SA) have been developed as a detection tool to target cancer cells. Before proceeding to in vivo studies, a better knowledge of the overall effects of MIPs on the innate immune system is needed. The aim of this study thus was to exemplarily assess whether SA-MIPs lead to inflammatory and/or cytotoxic responses when administered to phagocytosing cells in the innate immune system. The response of monocytic/macrophage cell lines to two different reference particles, Alhydrogel and PLGA, was compared to their response to SA-MIPs. In vitro culture showed a cellular association of SA-MIPs and Alhydrogel, as analyzed by flow cytometry. The reference particle Alhydrogel induced secretion of IL-1b from the monocytic cell line THP-1, whereas almost no secretion was provoked for SA-MIPs. A reduced number of both THP-1 and RAW 264.7 cells were observed after incubation with SA-MIPs and this was not caused by cytotoxicity. Digital holographic cytometry showed that SA-MIP treatment affected cell division, with much fewer cells dividing. Thus, the reduced number of cells after SA-MIP treatment was not linked to SA-MIPs cytotoxicity. In conclusion, SA-MIPs have a low degree of inflammatory properties, are not cytotoxic, and can be applicable for future in vivo studies. KW - Molecularly imprinted polymers KW - Digital holographic cytometry KW - Cytotoxicity KW - Proinflammatory cytokines PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-552250 DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/app12126091 SN - 2076-3417 VL - 12 IS - 12 SP - 1 EP - 16 PB - MDPI CY - Basel AN - OPUS4-55225 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Garrido, E. A1 - Hernández-Sigüenza, G. A1 - Climent, Estela A1 - Marcos, M. D. A1 - Rurack, Knut A1 - Gaviña, P. A1 - Parra, M. A1 - Sancenón, F. A1 - Martí-Centelles, V. A1 - Martínez-Máñez, R. T1 - Strip-based lateral flow-type indicator displacement assay for γ-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) detection in beverages JF - Sensors and Actuators: B. Chemical N2 - The use of gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) in drug-facilitated sexual assault has increased due to its availability and high solubility in aqueous solutions and alcoholic beverages, necessitating the development of rapid methods for GHB detection. In this respect, portable testing methods for use in the field, based on lateral flow assays (LFAs) and capable of detecting trace concentrations of target analytes, are particularly attractive and hold enormous potential for the detection of illicit drugs. Using this strategy, here we report a rapid, low cost, easy-to-handle strip-based LFA for GHB analysis employing a smartphone for fluorescence readout. At molecular signalling level, the ensemble is based on a Cu2+ complex with a tetradentate ligand and the fluorescent dye coumarin 343, which indicate GHB through an indicator displacement assay (IDA) in aqueous solution. When incorporated in a LFA-based strip test this system shows a detection limit as low as 0.03 μM for GHB in MES buffer solution and is able to detect GHB at concentrations of 0.1 μM in soft drinks and alcoholic beverages in only 1 min. KW - Indicator displacement assay KW - Gamma-hydroxybutyric acid KW - Lateral flow assay KW - Test strip KW - Fluorescent dyes KW - Smartphone readout PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-564631 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.snb.2022.133043 SN - 0925-4005 VL - 377 SP - 1 EP - 7 PB - Elsevier B.V. CY - Amsterdam AN - OPUS4-56463 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Jiang, Shan A1 - Wang, T. A1 - Behren, S. A1 - Westerlind, U. A1 - Gawlitza, Kornelia A1 - Persson, J. L. A1 - Rurack, Knut T1 - Sialyl-Tn Antigen-Imprinted Dual Fluorescent Core–Shell Nanoparticles for Ratiometric Sialyl-Tn Antigen Detection and Dual-Color Labeling of Cancer Cells JF - ACS Applied Nano Materials N2 - Sialyl-Tn (STn or sialyl-Thomsen-nouveau) is a carbohydrate antigen expressed by more than 80% of human carcinomas. We here report a strategy for ratiometric STn detection and dual-color cancer cell labeling, particularly, by molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs). Imprinting was based on spectroscopic studies of a urea-containing green-fluorescent monomer 1 and STn-Thr-Na (sodium salt of Neu5Acα2-6GalNAcα-O-Thr). A few-nanometer-thin green-fluorescent polymer shell, in which STn-Thr-Na was imprinted with 1, other comonomers, and a cross-linker, was synthesized from the surface of red-emissive carbon nanodot (R-CND)-doped silica nanoparticles, resulting in dual fluorescent STn-MIPs. Dual-color labeling of cancer cells was achieved since both red and green emissions were detected in two separate channels of the microscope and an improved accuracy was obtained in comparison with single-signal MIPs. The flow cytometric cell analysis showed that the binding of STn-MIPs was significantly higher (p < 0.001) than that of non-imprinted polymer (NIP) control particles within the same cell line, allowing to distinguish populations. Based on the modularity of the luminescent core–fluorescent MIP shell architecture, the concept can be transferred in a straightforward manner to other target analytes. KW - Cancer KW - Core−shell particles KW - Dual-color labeling glycan KW - Molecular imprinting PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-563106 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acsanm.2c03252 SP - 1 EP - 14 PB - ACS Publications AN - OPUS4-56310 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Valderrey, Virginia A1 - Gawlitza, Kornelia A1 - Rurack, Knut T1 - Thiourea- and Amino-Substituted Benzoxadiazole Dyes with Large Stokes Shifts as Red-Emitting Probe Monomers for Imprinted Polymer Layers Targeting Carboxylate-Containing Antibiotics JF - Thiourea- and Amino-Substituted Benzoxadiazole Dyes with Large Stokes Shifts as Red-Emitting Probe Monomers for Imprinted Polymer Layers Targeting Carboxylate-Containing Antibiotics N2 - Bifunctional fluorescent molecular oxoanion probes based on the benzoxadiazole (BD) chromophore are described which integrate a thiourea binding motif and a polymerizable 2-aminoethyl methacrylate unit in the 4,7-positions of the BD core. Concerted charge transfer in this electron donor-acceptor-donor architecture endows the dyes with strongly Stokes shifted (up to >250 nm) absorption and fluorescence. Binding of electron-rich carboxylate guests at the thiourea receptor leads to further analyte-induced red-shifts of the emission, shifting the fluorescence maximum of the complexes to ≥700 nm. Association constants for acetate are ranging from 1–5×105 M−1 in acetonitrile. Integration of one of the fluorescent probes through its polymerizable moiety into molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) grafted from the surface of submicron silica cores yielded fluorescent MIP-coated particle probes for the selective detection of antibiotics containing aliphatic carboxylate groups such as enoxacin (ENOX) at micromolar concentrations in highly polar solvents like acetonitrile. KW - Molecular imprinting KW - Anion recognition KW - Antibiotics KW - Benzoxadiazole dyes KW - Charge transfer KW - Fluorescence PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-545027 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.202104525 SN - 1521-3765 SP - 1 EP - 9 PB - Wiley-VCH AN - OPUS4-54502 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Beyer, S. A1 - Kimani, Martha Wamaitha A1 - Zhang, Y. A1 - Verhassel, A. A1 - Sternbæk, L. A1 - Wang, T. A1 - Persson, J. L. A1 - Härkönen, P. A1 - Johansson, E. A1 - Caraballo, R. A1 - Elofsson, M. A1 - Gawlitza, Kornelia A1 - Rurack, Knut A1 - Ohlsson, L. A1 - El-Schich, Z. A1 - Gjörloff Wingren, A. A1 - Stollenwerk, M. M. T1 - Fluorescent Molecularly Imprinted Polymer Layers against Sialic Acid on Silica-coated Polystyrene Cores - Assessment of the Binding Behavior to Cancer Cells JF - Cancers N2 - Sialic acid (SA) is a monosaccharide usually linked to the terminus of glycan chains on the cell surface. It plays a crucial role in many biological processes, and hypersialylation is a common feature in cancer. Lectins are widely used to analyze the cell surface expression of SA. However, these protein molecules are usually expensive and easily denatured, which calls for the development of alternative glycan-specific receptors and cell imaging technologies. In this study, SA-imprinted fluorescent core-shell molecularly imprinted polymer particles (SA-MIPs) were employed to recognize SA on the cell surface of cancer cell lines. The SA-MIPs improved suspensibility and scattering properties compared with previously used core-shell SA-MIPs. Although SA-imprinting was performed using SA without preference for the alpha-2,3- and alpha-2,6-SA forms, we screened the cancer cell lines analyzed using the lectins Maackia Amurensis Lectin I (MAL I, alpha-2,3-SA) and Sambucus Nigra Lectin (SNA, alpha-2,6-SA). Our results show that the selected cancer cell lines in this study presented a varied binding behavior with the SA-MIPs. The binding pattern of the lectins was also demonstrated. Moreover, two different pentavalent SA conjugates were used to inhibit the binding of the SA-MIPs to breast, skin, and lung cancer cell lines, demonstrating the specificity of the SA-MIPs in both flow cytometry and confocal fluorescence microscopy. We concluded that the synthesized SA-MIPs might be a powerful future tool in the diagnostic analysis of various cancer cells. KW - Cancer KW - Imprinting KW - Molecularly imprinted polymers KW - SA conjugates KW - Sialic acid PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-546625 DO - https://doi.org/110.3390/cancers14081875 SN - 2072-6694 VL - 14 IS - 8 PB - MDPI CY - Basel AN - OPUS4-54662 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kimani, Martha Wamaitha A1 - Pérez-Padilla, Victor A1 - Valderrey, Virginia A1 - Gawlitza, Kornelia A1 - Rurack, Knut T1 - Red-Emitting Polymerizable Guanidinium Dyes as Fluorescent Probes in Molecularly Imprinted Polymers for Glyphosate Detection JF - Chemosensors N2 - The development of methodologies to sense glyphosate has gained momentum due to its toxicological and ecotoxicological effects. In this work, a red-emitting and polymerizable guanidinium benzoxadiazole probe was developed for the fluorescence detection of glyphosate. The interaction of the fluorescent probe and the tetrabutylammonium salt of glyphosate was studied via UV/vis absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy in chloroform and acetonitrile. The selective recognition of glyphosate was achieved by preparing molecularly imprinted polymers, able to discriminate against other common herbicides such as 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) and 3,6-dichloro-2-methoxybenzoic acid (dicamba), as thin layers on submicron silica particles. The limits of detection of 4.8 µM and 0.6 µM were obtained for the sensing of glyphosate in chloroform and acetonitrile, respectively. The reported system shows promise for future application in the sensing of glyphosate through further optimization of the dye and the implementation of a biphasic assay with water/organic solvent mixtures for sensing in aqueous environmental samples. KW - Glyphosate KW - Guanidinium receptors KW - Fluorescent probes KW - Molecularly imprinted polymers KW - Core-shell particles PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-544441 DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/chemosensors10030099 SN - 2227-9040 VL - 10 IS - 3 SP - 1 EP - 20 PB - MDPI CY - Basel AN - OPUS4-54444 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hülagü, Deniz A1 - Tobias, Charlie A1 - Climent Terol, Estela A1 - Gojani, Ardian A1 - Rurack, Knut A1 - Hodoroaba, Vasile-Dan T1 - Generalized Analysis Approach of the Profile Roughness by Electron Microscopy with the Example of Hierarchically Grown Polystyrene–Iron Oxide–Silica Core–Shell–Shell Particles JF - Advanced Engineering Materials N2 - The roughness as a property of core–shell (CS) microparticles plays a key role in their functionality. Quantitative evaluation of the roughness of CS microparticles is, however, a challenging task with approaches using electron microscopy images being scarce and showing pronounced differences in terms of methodology and results. This work presents a generalized method for the reliable roughness determination of nonplanar specimens such as CS particles from electron microscopic images, the method being robust and reproducible with a high accuracy. It involves a self-written software package (Python) that analyzes the recorded images, extracts corresponding data, and calculates the roughness based on the deviation of the identified contour. Images of single particles are taken by a dual mode scanning electron microscopy (SEM) setup which permits imaging of the same field-of-view of the sample with high resolution and surface sensitive in SE InLens mode as well as in transmission mode (TSEM). Herein, a new type of polystyrene core–iron oxide shell–silica shell particles is developed to serve as a set of lower micrometer-sized study objects with different surface roughness; the analysis of their images by the semiautomatic workflow is demonstrating that the particles’ profile roughness can be quantitatively obtained. KW - Core–shell particles KW - Image analysis KW - Nanoparticles KW - Roughness KW - SEM KW - transmission mode PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-542576 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/adem.202101344 SP - 1 EP - 9 PB - Wiley-VCH AN - OPUS4-54257 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Climent Terol, Estela A1 - Rurack, Knut A1 - Hecht, Mandy T1 - Loading and Release of Charged and Neutral Fluorescent Dyes into and from Mesoporous Materials: A Key Role for Sensing Applications JF - Micromachines N2 - The aim of this study is to determine the efficiency of loading and release of several zwitterionic, neutral, anionic and cationic dyes into/from mesoporous nanoparticles to find the optimum loading and release conditions for their application in detection protocols. The loading is carried out for MCM-41 type silica supports suspended in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) buffer (pH 7.4) or in acetonitrile, involving the dyes (rhodamine B chloride, rhodamine 101 chloride, rhodamine 101 perchlorate, rhodamine 101 inner salt, meso-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-boron–dipyrromethene (BODIPY), sulforhodamine B sodium salt and fluorescein 27). As a general trend, rhodamine-based dyes are loaded with higher efficiency, when compared with BODIPY and fluorescein dyes. Between the rhodamine-based dyes, their charge and the solvent in which the loading process is carried out play important roles for the amount of cargo that can be loaded into the materials. The delivery experiments carried out in PBS buffer at pH 7.4 reveal for all the materials that anionic dyes are more efficiently released compared to their neutral or cationic counterparts. The overall best performance is achieved with the negatively charged sulforhodamine B dye in acetonitrile. This material also shows a high delivery degree in PBS buffer. KW - Mesoporous materials KW - Charged dyes KW - Neutral dyes KW - Dye loading optimisation KW - Dye release PY - 2021 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-522596 UR - https://www.mdpi.com/2072-666X/12/3/249 DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/mi12030249 VL - 12 IS - 3 SP - 249 PB - MDPI AN - OPUS4-52259 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kimani, Martha Wamaitha A1 - Kislenko, Evgeniia A1 - Gawlitza, Kornelia A1 - Rurack, Knut T1 - Fluorescent molecularly imprinted polymer particles for glyphosate detection using phase transfer agents JF - Scientific reports N2 - In this work, molecular imprinting was combined with direct fluorescence detection of the pesticide Glyphosate (GPS). Firstly, the solubility of highly polar GPS in organic solvents was improved by using lipophilic tetrabutylammonium (TBA+) and tetrahexylammonium (THA+) counterions. Secondly, to achieve fluorescence detection, a fluorescent crosslinker containing urea-binding motifs was used as a probe for GPS-TBA and GPS-THA salts in chloroform, generating stable complexes through hydrogen bond formation. The GPS/fluorescent dye complexes were imprinted into 2–3 nm fluorescent molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) shells on the surface of sub-micron silica particles using chloroform as porogen. Thus, the MIP binding behavior could be easily evaluated by fluorescence titrations in suspension to monitor the spectral changes upon addition of the GPS analytes. While MIPs prepared with GPS-TBA and GPS-THA both displayed satisfactory imprinting following titration with the corresponding analytes in chloroform, GPS-THA MIPs displayed better selectivity against competing molecules. Moreover, the THA+ counterion was found to be a more powerful phase transfer agent than TBA+ in a biphasic assay, enabling the direct fluorescence detection and quantification of GPS in water. A limit of detection of 1.45 μM and a linear range of 5–55 μM were obtained, which match well with WHO guidelines for the acceptable daily intake of GPS in water (5.32 μM). KW - Glyphosate KW - Molecular imprinting KW - Core-shell particles KW - Fluorescent sensors PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-555281 DO - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-16825-9 SN - 2045-2322 VL - 12 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 15 PB - Macmillan Publishers Limited CY - London AN - OPUS4-55528 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Li, Q. A1 - Shinde, S. A1 - Grasso, G. A1 - Caroli, A. A1 - Abouhany, R. A1 - Lanzillotta, M. A1 - Pan, G. A1 - Wan, Wei A1 - Rurack, Knut A1 - Sellergren, B. T1 - Selective detection of phospholipids using molecularly imprinted fluorescent sensory core-shell particles JF - Scientific Reports N2 - Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) is a bioactive sphingo-lipid with a broad range of activities coupled to its role in G-protein coupled receptor signalling. Monitoring of both intra and extra cellular levels of this lipid is challenging due to its low abundance and lack of robust affinity assays or sensors. We here report on fluorescent sensory core-shell molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) particles responsive to near physiologically relevant levels of S1P and the S1P receptor modulator fingolimod phosphate (FP) in spiked human serum samples. Imprinting was achieved using the tetrabutylammonium (TBA) salt of FP or phosphatidic acid (DPPA·Na) as templates in combination with a polymerizable nitrobenzoxadiazole (NBD)-urea monomer with the dual role of capturing the phospho-anion and signalling its presence. The monomers were grafted from ca 300 nm RAFT-modified silica core particles using ethyleneglycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) as crosslinker resulting in 10–20 nm thick shells displaying selective fluorescence response to the targeted lipids S1P and DPPA in aqueous buffered media. Potential use of the sensory particles for monitoring S1P in serum was demonstrated on spiked serum samples, proving a linear range of 18–60 μM and a detection limit of 5.6 μM, a value in the same range as the plasma concentration of the biomarker. KW - Molecularly imprinted polymers KW - Phospholipids KW - Fluorescence KW - Dye monomers PY - 2020 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-509485 DO - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-66802-3 SN - 2045-2322 VL - 10 IS - 1 SP - 9924 PB - Nature Research CY - London AN - OPUS4-50948 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -