Gold Nanocluster-Based Fluorescent Microneedle Platform toward Visual Detection of ATP

Abstract

Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) participates in the regulation of most biological processes, and the ATP level is closely associated with many diseases. However, it still remains challenging to achieve on-site monitoring of ATP in an equipment-free and efficient way. Microneedles, a minimally invasive technology that can extract biomarkers from liquid biopsies, have recently emerged as useful tools for early diagnosis of a broad range of diseases. In this work, we developed hydrogel microneedles that are loaded with ATP-specific dual-emitting gold nanoclusters (RhE-AuNCs) for fast sampling and on-needle detection of ATP. These RhE-AuNCs were photo-crosslinked to the hydrogel matrix to form a fluorescent microneedle patch. Based on the ATP-induced Förster resonance energy transfer in RhE-AuNCs, a highly selective, sensitive, and reliable ATP sensor was developed. Moreover, simultaneous capture and visual detection of ATP was achieved by the AuNC-loaded microneedle sensing platform, which exhibits promising sensing performance. This work provides a new approach to design a point-of-care ATP sensing platform, which also holds great potential for the further development of microneedle-based analytical devices.

Gold nanoclusters encapsulated microneedle patches with antibacterial and self‐monitoring capacities for wound management

“…This may result from the fact that the denser structure coming from a higher HA concentration would decelerate the degradation and drug release processes. Despite of the attempts in the application of GNCs in microneedles for the visual detection of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), or in glass nanoparticles (BGN) for infected wound treatments, [34,35] the combination of the intrinsic fluorescence and the antibacterial activity of A-GNCs, along with the special structural and mechanical strength of microneedles has not been studied. In comparison with the functional nanomaterial-integrated films, the microneedle allowed the administration of payloads to the deep wound due to the penetration through the scab.…”

Transdermal Drug Delivery System: Current Status and Clinical Application of Microneedles

“…This was achieved by the decrease in the green fluorescence of AuNCs and the increase in the red fluorescence of RhE (Figure F f 2 ). The development of this fluorescent sensing microneedle can serve as a source of inspiration for the creation of novel ratiometric fluorescence sensors and accelerate the advancement of efficient microneedle-based devices for detecting disease-related biomarkers at the point-of-care . Supporting Information document (Supporting Information: Table S1.…”

“…The development of this fluorescent sensing microneedle can serve as a source of inspiration for the creation of novel ratiometric fluorescence sensors and accelerate the advancement of efficient microneedle-based devices for detecting disease-related biomarkers at the point-of-care. 78 Supporting Information document (Supporting Information: Table S1. Summary of microneedles for different materials) showcases further examples of hybrid microneedles.…”

“…(F) The diagram portrays the process of creating, operating, and detecting sensor hybrid microneedles: (f 1 ) The schematic illustration of the synthesis of RhE-AuNCs and the ratiometric fluorescence assay used for ATP sensing, and (f 2 ) the schematic illustration of how microneedles capture and detect ATP. Reproduced with permission from ref . Copyright 2023, ACS.…”

Metal Ion-Regulated Fluorescent Sensor Array Based on Gold Nanoclusters for Physiological Phosphate Sensing

“…For instance, using ammonia or l -glutamine as the nitrogen source, UTP can transform into CTP by the catalysis of cytidine 5′-triphosphate synthase . These enzymatic reactions are fundamental in cellular events such as intracellular signal transduction, DNA replication, and membrane transport. , Therefore, it is necessary to detect multiple phosphates simultaneously and efficiently to elucidate the metabolic processes and enable the diagnosis of the related diseases.…”