Label-Free Electrochemical Biosensors for the Determination of Flaviviruses: Dengue, Zika, and Japanese Encephalitis.

A highly effective way to improve prognosis of viral infectious diseases and to determine the outcome of infection is early, fast, simple, and efficient diagnosis of viral pathogens in biological fluids. Among a wide range of viral pathogens, Flaviviruses attract a special attention. Flavivirus genus includes more than 70 viruses, the most familiar being dengue virus (DENV), Zika virus (ZIKV), and Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV). Haemorrhagic and encephalitis diseases are the most common severe consequences of flaviviral infection. Currently, increasing attention is being paid to the development of electrochemical immunological methods for the determination of Flaviviruses. This review critically compares and evaluates recent research progress in electrochemical biosensing of DENV, ZIKV, and JEV without labelling. Specific attention is paid to comparison of detection strategies, electrode materials, and analytical characteristics. The potential of so far developed biosensors is discussed together with an outlook for further development in this field.

Simultaneous voltammetric determination of Brilliant Blue FCF and Tartrazine for food quality control.

Voltammetric determination of Tartrazine (Tz) and Brilliant Blue FCF (BB) in their mixture using novel type of carbon black-polyethylene composite electrode (CBPCE) with renewable surface modified by carbon ink (CI) was developed. Electrochemical properties of the tested dyes were investigated in 0.1 mol L-1 Britton-Robinson (BR) buffer by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and linear scan voltammetry (LSV). Simultaneous determination of the dyes is based on the application of supporting electrolytes with different pH: 2.0 for Tz and 10.0 for BB. Under the optimum experimental conditions, linear concentration dependences in the concentration ranges from 0.037 to 1.38 µmol L-1 for Tz and from 0.025 to 2.52 µmol L-1 for BB were obtained by LSV in the first-order derivative mode. Limits of detection (LODs) for Tz and BB were 0.019 and 0.011 µmol L-1, respectively. The modified electrode showed good stability and reproducibility and was successfully applied for the determination of the mixture Tz and BB in a candy and soft drink products.

Electrochemical immunoassay for the detection of antibodies to tick-borne encephalitis virus by using various types of bioconjugates based on silver nanoparticles.

This work reports for the first time a significantly improved and simplified electrochemical immunoassay to detect antibodies to tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) using a 96-well microtiter plate as a platform for immobilization and silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) as electrochemical labels. The electrochemical assay is performed by detecting the elemental silver oxidation signal where the electroactive signalling silver species are released from the bioconjugates (Ab@AgNP, AbS@AgNP, and ProteinA@AgNP). For this purpose, AgNPs were synthesized and further tagged with biomolecules (antibodies to TBEV, cleaved antibodies to TBEV, and protein A). Signal is read by linear sweep anodic stripping voltammetry (LSASV) of silver ions (through the electrochemical stripping of accumulated elemental silver) on a graphite electrode (GE). AbS@AgNP was chosen as the best option for the new electrochemical immunoassay. The results of electrochemical measurements demonstrated that voltammetric signal increased with the increasing concentration of target antibodies to TBEV within the range from 100 to 1600 IU mL-1, with a detection limit of 90 IU mL-1. To verify the practical application of the novel electrochemical immunosensor, the quantity of immunoglobulins against TBEV in human serum was checked. The results may contribute to the development of alternative methods for monitoring TBEV in biological fluids.