Construction of silver-cotton carbon fiber sensing interface and study on the protective effect of antioxidants on hypoxia-induced cell damage

Abstract

Superoxide anion (O2−), as the first generated reactive oxygen species (ROS), has been considered to be highly deleterious to cell functions. The importance of superoxide anion in many biological processes has garnered increasing research interest in the design and development of effective detection technologies. Herein, we reported a novel electrochemical sensor based on silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and nitrogen doped cotton carbon fibers (NCFs). Benefiting from the large specific surface area of NCFs and strong catalytic performance of AgNPs, the electrochemical sensor exhibits ultrahigh sensitivity for detecting O2−, with the wider linear range (7.59 × 10−14 ~ 7.22 × 10−5 M) and super lower detection limit (2.53 × 10−14 M). More importantly, the sensor was successfully used for in situ monitoring of O2− released from glioma cells (U87) under normoxic conditions. Finally, we further explored the protective effects of antioxidants on hypoxic cell damage. This study provides an effective platform in monitoring O2− in biological processes as well as a new protective strategy of antioxidants on hypoxic cell damage.