No abstract

We have developed the means to simultaneously measure the physical size and count catecholamine molecules in individual nanometer transmitter vesicles. This is done by combining resistive pulse (RP) measurements in a nanopore pipet and vesicle impact electrochemical cytometry (VIEC) at an electrode as the vesicle exits the nanopore. Analysis of freshly isolated bovine adrenal vesicles shows that the size and internal catecholamine concentration of vesicles varies with the occurrence of a dense core inside the vesicles. These results might benefit the understanding about the vesicles maturation, especially involving the “sorting by retention” process and concentration increase of intravesicular catecholamine. The methodology is applicable to understanding soft nanoparticle collisions on electrodes, vesicles in exocytosis and phagocytosis, intracellular vesicle transport, and analysis of electroactive drugs in exosomes.

The existence of a homeostatic mechanism regulating reactive oxygen/nitrogen species (ROS/RNS) amounts inside phagolysosomes has been invoked to account for the efficiency of this process but could not be unambiguously documented. Now, intracellular electrochemical analysis with platinized nanowire electrodes (Pt‐NWEs) allowed monitoring ROS/RNS effluxes with sub‐millisecond resolution from individual phagolysosomes impacting onto the electrode inserted inside a living macrophage. This shows for the first time that the consumption of ROS/RNS by their oxidation at the nanoelectrode surface stimulates the production of significant ROS/RNS amounts inside phagolysosomes. These results establish the existence of the long‐postulated ROS/RNS homeostasis and allows its kinetics and efficiency to be quantified. ROS/RNS concentrations may then be maintained at sufficiently high levels for sustaining proper pathogen digestion rates without endangering the macrophage internal structures.

We report the first microsampling device for reliably quantitative, label-free and separation-free detection of multicomponents of surface organic residues (SORs) by means of a quality controllable surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)-enabled micropipette. The micropipette is comprised of a drawn glass capillary with a tiny orifice (∼50 μm) at the distal tip, where the specially designed nanorattles (NRs) are compactly coated on the inner wall surface. SERS signals of 4-mercapto benzoic acid (MBA) anchored inside the internal gap of NRs could be used to evaluate and control the quality of micropipettes and, therefore, allow us to overcome the limitations of a reliably quantitative SERS assay using traditional substrates without an internal standard. By dropping a trace extraction agent on targeting SORs located on a narrow surface, the capillary and SERS functionalities of these micropipettes allow on-site microsampling via capillary action and subsequent multiplex distinction/detection due to their molecularly narrow Raman peaks. For example, 8 nM thiram (TMTD), 8 nM malachite green (MG), and 1.5 μM (400 ppb) methyl parathion (MPT) on pepper and cucumber peels have been simultaneously detected in a wide detection range. The portable SERS-enabled device could potentially be facilely incorporated with liquid-liquid or solid phase micro-extracting devices for a broader range of applications in rapid and field analysis of food/public/environment security related SORs.

We present a biomimetic and reusable microsensor with sub-nanomolar sensitivity by elaboratly functionalizing graphene for monitoring NO release in real-time.