Abstract
Silver nanoparticles are recognized as effective antimicrobial agents and have been implemented in various consumer products including washing machines, refrigerators, clothing, medical devices, and food packaging. Alongside the silver nanoparticles benefits, their novel properties have raised concerns about possible adverse effects on biological systems. To protect consumer’s health and the environment, efficient monitoring of silver nanoparticles needs to be established. Here, we present the development of human metallothionein (MT) based surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor for rapid detection of nanosilver. Incorporation of human metallothionein 1A to the sensor surface enables screening for potentially biologically active silver nanoparticles at parts per billion sensitivity. Other protein ligands were also tested for binding capacity of the nanosilver and were found to be inferior to the metallothionein. The biosensor has been characterized in terms of selectivity and sensitivity towards different types of silver nanoparticles and applied in measurements of real-life samples—such as fresh vegetables and river water. Our findings suggest that human MT1-based SPR sensor has the potential to be utilized as a routine screening method for silver nanoparticles, that can provide rapid and automated analysis dedicated to environmental and food safety monitoring. FigureSurface plasmon resonance biosensor for rapid detection of silver nanoparticles was developed. Human metallothionein 1A (hMT1A) was immobilized on the sensor chip surface and showed dose dependent binding to the silver nanoparticles with part per billion sensitivity. Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00216-012-5920-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Recent advances in nanotechnology have introduced novel nanomaterials (NM) into our environment
There is no legislation in place for silver nanoparticles, the European Scientific Committee makes a series of recommendations on actions should be taken to develop methods to detect and measure engineered nanomaterials, such as AgNPs, in food and feed [15,16,17]
The AgNPs were diluted in 20 mM HEPES buffer pH 7.4 and injected to the human metallothionein 1A (hMT1A)-coated flow channel (FC)
Summary
Recent advances in nanotechnology have introduced novel nanomaterials (NM) into our environment Due to their small size, the NM exhibit different physicochemical properties compared to their respective bulk material. Their benefits led to an increasing amount of applications in many sectors including electronics, clothing, medicine, cosmetics and food [1]. There is no legislation in place for silver nanoparticles, the European Scientific Committee makes a series of recommendations on actions should be taken to develop methods to detect and measure engineered nanomaterials, such as AgNPs, in food and feed [15,16,17]
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