Microchip Electrophoresis Method Research Articles

Capillary and microchip electrophoresis method development for amino acid monitoring during biopharmaceutical cultivation.

The increased use of biopharmaceuticals calls for improved means of bioprocess monitoring. In this work, capillary electrophoresis (CE) and microchip electrophoresis (MCE) methods were developed and applied for the analysis of amino acids (AAs) in cell culture supernatant. In samples from different days of a Chinese hamster ovary cell cultivation process, all 19 proteinogenic AAs containing primary amine groups could be detected using CE, and 17 out of 19 AAs using MCE. The relative concentration changes in different samples agreed well with those measured by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Compared to the more commonly employed HPLC analysis, the CE and MCE methods resulted in faster analysis, while significantly lowering both the sample and reagent consumption, and the cost per analysis.

Potential of microchip electrophoresis in pharmaceutical analysis: Development of a universal method for frequently prescribed nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs

A novel microchip electrophoresis method with conductivity detection for the determination of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in several pharmaceutical formulations was developed. The three frequently used NSAIDs – acetylsalicylic acid, diclofenac and ibuprofen were baseline separated on a poly(methyl methacrylate) microchip with coupled separation channels. Elimination of matrix components such as excipients, was realized through online combination of isotachophoresis (ITP) with zone electrophoresis (ZE). ITP-ZE hyphenation can also facilitate preconcentration of target analytes. ITP was carried out in the first separation channel at pH 6.5, while the second channel of the microchip was used for ZE separation and detection of the analytes at pH 7.0. The developed ITP-ZE method was demonstrated to be applicable for direct and reliable determination of NSAIDs in eleven pharmaceutical formulations. The noticeable advantage of this approach is that only simple sample pretreatment (filtration and dilution) is necessary. The method performance parameters, such as linearity (20–250% of nominal concentration of studied NSAIDs in the test samples), accuracy (98–102%) and precision (less than 2% RSD) were obtained. This universal approach is suitable for the determination of frequently used NSAIDs in a single analysis in less than 15 min. In addition to simple sample pretreatment, low running costs and minimal environmental impact could make this method attractive for the analysis of pharmaceutical preparations.

Ultrasensitive microchip electrophoretic detection of the mecA gene in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) based on isothermal strand-displacement polymerase reaction

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is one of the main pathogens involved in hospital and community infection. To rapidly and sensitively detect the mecA gene, which is relevant to methicillin-resistant strains, microchip electrophoresis (MCE) integrated with isothermal strand-displacement polymerase reaction (ISDPR) was developed. In the ISDPR signal recycle amplification, the target DNA opened the DNA hairpin structure by specifically binding with the hairpin probe (HP), and then the primer hybridized with the probe and released the target DNA in the presence of Klenow Fragment exo− (KF exo−) polymerase. The released target DNA hybridized with the next HP and then was displaced by the primer again, consequently achieving target recycling and amplification. The amplified products of the HP-cDNA duplex were separated rapidly from other DNAs by MCE. Under optimal conditions, the limit of detection of the target DNA was as low as 12.3 pM (S/N = 3). The proposed ISDPR with MCE method was also successfully applied to detect methicillin-resistant S. aureus, and the experimental results showed that it had some advantages such as being label free, ultrasensitive, rapid and well separated.

Rapid detection of high-risk HPV16 and HPV18 based on microchip electrophoresis

Researches on detection of human papillomavirus (HPV) high-risk samples were carried out by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) coupled with microchip electrophoresis (MCE). Herein, we introduced a simple, rapid, automated method for detecting high-risk samples HPV16 and HPV18. In this research, general primers were initially selected to obtain sufficient detectable yield by PCR to verify feasibility of MCM method for HPV detection, then type-specific primers were further used to evaluate the specificity of MCE method. The results indicated MCE method was capable of specifically detecting high-risk HPV16 and HPV18, and also enabled simultaneous detection of multiplex samples. This MCE method described here has been successfully applied to HPV detection and displayed excellent reliability demonstrating by sequencing results. The inherent capability of MCE facilitated HPV detection conducted in a small chip with automated, high throughput, massive parallelized analysis. We envision that MCE method will definitely pave a way for clinical diagnosis, and even on-site screening of cervical cancer.

Ultrasensitive detection of microRNA-21 based on electrophoresis assisted cascade chemiluminescence signal amplification for the identification of cancer cells

Rapid and accurate detection of microRNA content in cells is of great significance. Here, an ultrasensitive microchip electrophoresis (MCE) method based on cascade chemiluminescence (CL) signal amplification was developed for the detection of microRNA-21 in cells. In this method, horseradish peroxidase labeled DNA was used as a signal probe, which could induce CL signal by the reaction of luminol and H2O2. Combining with two cyclic enzyme digestion reactions by T7 exonuclease, a large number of signal probes were degraded. By using MCE-CL as a separation and detection platform, an amplified CL signal peak was achieved. The developed MCE-CL method can detect miR-21 at a concentration as low as 1.0 × 10−15 M, which was enhanced by six orders of magnitude compared with those of conventional MCE-CL assay. This method has been applied for the detection of microRNA-21 in cell lysate, which show that there were significant differences of miR-21 among different types of cells, and the content in cancer cells was much higher than that in normal cells, which can be used for the identification of cancer cells. Therefore, the proposed method held great application potential in early diagnosis of tumor and biomedical research.

Determination of Commonly Used Excipients in Pharmaceutical Preparations by Microchip Electrophoresis with Conductivity Detection

In this study, a microchip electrophoresis method for simultaneous determination of three frequently used pharmaceutical excipients (methylparaben, propylparaben and erythrosine) was described. Anionic zone electrophoresis (ZE) separations were performed on the microchip with contact conductivity detection using a high pH buffer (9.8). Sufficient resolution of the analytes (≥ 2.6) was achieved by 1 mmol L−1 β-cyclodextrin added to the buffer. Adsorption of the analytes on the walls of a poly(methylmethacrylate) microchip was suppressed by adding 1 mmol L− 1 sulfate to the sample. The LOD values for the excipients ranged from 0.5 to 11.1 µmol L− 1. High repeatability of the migration times of the analytes in model (< 2.9% RSD) and real pharmaceutical (< 4.1% RSD) samples was reached on the microchip. Peak areas of the analytes in all analyzed samples were characterized by RSD values ranging from 0.4 to 5.7%. The ZE method was successfully applied to the analysis of pharmaceutical syrups after a simple pretreatment (centrifugation and dilution), and gave recoveries of the analytes in the range 86.1–96.6%. The results showed a good agreement with those obtained by CZE with UV detection (254 nm) at 95% confidence level.

Optimization of a microchip electrophoresis method with electrochemical detection for the determination of nitrite in macrophage cells as an indicator of nitric oxide production.

Nitric oxide (NO) is involved in many biological functions, including blood pressure regulation, the immune response, and neurotransmission. However, excess production of NO can lead to the generation of reactive nitrogen species and nitrosative stress and has been linked to several neurodegenerative diseases and cardiovascular disorders. Because NO is short-lived and generally difficult to detect, its primary stable degradation product, nitrite, is frequently monitored in its place. In this paper, an improved method using microchip electrophoresis with electrochemical detection (ME-EC) was developed for the separation and detection of nitrite in cell lysates. A separation of nitrite from several electroactive cell constituents and interferences was optimized, and the effect of sample and buffer conductivity on peak efficiency was explored. It was found that the addition of 10 mM NaCl to the run buffer caused stacking of the nitrite peak and improved limits of detection. A platinum black working electrode was also evaluated for the detection of nitrite and other electroactive cellular species after electrophoretic separation. The use of a modified platinum working electrode resulted in 2.5-, 1.7-, and 7.2-fold signal enhancement for nitrite, ascorbic acid, and hydrogen peroxide, respectively, and increased the sensitivity of the method for nitrite twofold. The optimized ME-EC method was used to compare nitrite production by native and lipopolysaccharide-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophage cells.

Fast high-throughput screening of glutathione S-transferase polymorphism by voltage programming-based multi-channel microchip electrophoresis

Glutathione S-transferase (GST) polymorphism (M1 = 215 bp and T1 = 480 bp) can cause liver damage and increase the risk of cancer. In this study, voltage programming (VP)-based microchip electrophoresis (ME) with a laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) detector was developed to detect specific sizes of DNA fragments. The optimum conditions for a single-channel microchip were as follows: 4 kV for 0–9.5 s, 1.5 kV for 9.5–15.5 s, and 4 kV for 15.5–30 s. Next, these conditions were applied to another microchip that was constructed with many channels making possible simultaneous parallel detection. Finally, GST genes extracted from human blood were amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and were introduced into the multi-channel microchip. Target DNA molecules amplified by only 10 PCR cycles could be detected by the VP-based multi-channel ME method, but not by slab gel electrophoresis (SGE). In addition, the migration time for ME was <15 s, which was 700 times faster than conventional SGE. The developed VP-based multi-channel ME method with LIF detection was demonstrated to be an effective, rapid analysis technique for highly sensitive and high-throughput screening of GST genes.

Microchip electrophoresis separation of a panel of preterm birth biomarkers.

Preterm birth (PTB) is responsible for over one million infant deaths annually worldwide. Often, the first and only indication of PTB risk is the onset of early labor. Thus, there is an urgent need for an early PTB risk diagnostic that is inexpensive, reliable, and robust. Here, we describe the development of a microchip electrophoresis (μCE) method for separating a mixture of six PTB protein and peptide biomarkers present in maternal blood serum. μCE devices were photografted with a poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate surface coating to regulate EOF and reduce nonspecific analyte adsorption. Separation conditions including buffer pH, buffer concentration, and applied electric field were varied to improve biomarker peak resolution while minimizing deleterious effects like Joule heating. In this way, it was possible to separate six PTB biomarkers, the first μCE separation of this biomarker panel. LODs were also measured for each of the six PTB biomarkers. In the future, this μCE separation can be integrated with upstream maternal blood serum sample preparation steps to yield a complete PTB risk diagnosis microdevice.

A simple and reliable new microchip electrophoresis method for fast measurements of imidazole dipeptides in meat from different animal species.

Microchip electrophoresis (ME) was applied for the separation of two physiologically important imidazole dipeptides-carnosine and anserine. The capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detector (C4D) was employed for quantification of both dipeptides after separation in a new home-built ME unit. The separation parameters were optimized as follows to enable quantitative, baseline separation of both dipeptides: injection time 16s, injection voltage 900V/cm, and separation voltage 377.1V/cm. The C4D detector responded linearly to both imidazole dipeptides in the range 0-20mgL-1. The known addition methodology was applied to test the accuracy of the measurement of imidazole dipeptides in a complex sample. The recoveries for measurement of carnosine in the mixture ranged from 96.1 to 105.0%, whereas those for anserine amounted to 96.6 to 102.0%. This method was alsoapplied to real biological samples. The results exhibited a satisfactory agreement with a standard HPLC method. The proposed ME method represents a cheap, fast, and simple alternative to the existing, more complicated and expensive HPLC methods. This method does not demand either the optical detectors nor tedious derivatization of sample, which are unavoidable in HPLC methods. The method was succesfuly applied for animal species determination in unknown meat samples using the carnosine/anserine ratio, and subsequently, it could be used in a food fraud prevention process. Graphical abstract Microchip electrophoresis portable device with a C4D detector for determination of imidazole dipeptides in model samples and real meat samples from different animal species.

Toward miniaturized analysis of chemical identity and purity of radiopharmaceuticals via microchip electrophoresis.

Miniaturized synthesis of positron emission tomography (PET) tracers is poised to offer numerous advantages including reduced tracer production costs and increased availability of diverse tracers. While many steps of the tracer production process have been miniaturized, there has been relatively little development of microscale systems for the quality control (QC) testing process that is required by regulatory agencies to ensure purity, identity, and biological safety of the radiotracer before use in human subjects. Every batch must be tested, and in contrast with ordinary pharmaceuticals, the whole set of tests of radiopharmaceuticals must be completed within a short-period of time to minimize losses due to radioactive decay. By replacing conventional techniques with microscale analytical ones, it may be possible to significantly reduce instrument cost, conserve lab space, shorten analysis times, and streamline this aspect of PET tracer production. We focus in this work on miniaturizing the subset of QC tests for chemical identity and purity. These tests generally require high-resolution chromatographic separation prior to detection to enable the approach to be applied to many different tracers (and their impurities), and have not yet, to the best of our knowledge, been tackled in microfluidic systems. Toward this end, we previously explored the feasibility of using the technique of capillary electrophoresis (CE) as a replacement for the "gold standard" approach of using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) since CE offers similar separating power, flexibility, and sensitivity, but can readily be implemented in a microchip format. Using a conventional CE system, we previously demonstrated the successful separation of non-radioactive version of a clinical PET tracer, 3'-deoxy-3'-fluorothymidine (FLT), from its known by-products, and the separation of the PET tracer 1-(2'-deoxy-2'-fluoro-β-D-arabinofuranosyl)-cytosine (D-FAC) from its α-isomer, with sensitivity nearly as good as HPLC. Building on this feasibility study, in this paper, we describe the first effort to miniaturize the chemical identity and purity tests by using microchip electrophoresis (MCE). The fully automated proof-of-concept system comprises a chip for sample injection, a separation capillary, and an optical detection chip. Using the same model compound (FLT and its known by-products), we demonstrate that samples can be injected, separated, and detected, and show the potential to match the performance of HPLC. Addition of a radiation detector in the future would enable analysis of radiochemical identity and purity in the same device. We envision that eventually this MCE method could be combined with other miniaturized QC tests into a compact integrated system for automated routine QC testing of radiopharmaceuticals in the future. Graphical abstract Miniaturized quality control (QC) testing of batches of radiopharmaceuticals via microfluidic analysis. The proof-of-concept hybrid microchip electrophoresis (MCE) device demonstrated the feasibility of achieving comparable performance to conventional analytical instruments (HPLC or CE) for chemical purity testing.

A novel dual target simultaneous chemiluminescence signal amplification strategy for enhancing sensitivity of multiple biomolecule detection

A G-quadruplex DNAzyme and nicking enzyme assisted multiplex chemiluminescence signal amplification based microchip electrophoresis method was developed for simultaneous detection of two trace biomolecules.

Analysis of acrylamide in food products by microchip electrophoresis with on-line multiple-preconcentration techniques

In this paper, a microchip electrophoresis method based on on-line multiple-preconcentration techniques combining field-amplified sample stacking and reversed-field stacking was developed for highly efficient analysis of acrylamide in food products. The related mechanism as well as important parameters governing separation and preconcentration have been investigated in order to obtain maximum resolution and sensitivity. The best separation was achieved using a 100mM borate solution at pH 9.3 as running buffer, and a sensitivity enhancement factor of 432 was obtained using this concentration method under optimal conditions. The detection limit of acrylamide was 1ng/mL, which was comparable to those previously obtained using CE methods with on-line preconcentration techniques and was 41–700 times lower than those previously reported CE methods without concentration process. The proposed method also gave satisfactory and reliable results in the analysis of acrylamide in potato chips and French fries.

Rapid separation of phosphopeptides by microchip electrophoresis–electrospray ionization mass spectrometry

Protein phosphorylation is a significant biological process, but separation of phosphorylated peptide isomers is often challenging for many analytical techniques. We developed a microchip electrophoresis (MCE) method for rapid separation of phosphopeptides with on-chip electrospray ionization (ESI) facilitating online sample introduction to the mass spectrometer (MS). With the method, two monophosphorylated positional isomers of insulin receptor peptide (IR1A and IR1B) and a triply phosphorylated insulin receptor peptide (IR3), all with the same amino acid sequence, were separated from the nonphosphorylated peptide (IR0) in less than one minute. For efficient separation of the positional peptide isomers from each other derivatization with 9-fluorenylmethyl reagents (either chloroformate, Fmoc-Cl, or N-succinimidyl carbonate, Fmoc-OSu) was required before the analysis. The derivatization improved not only the separation of the monophosphorylated positional peptide isomers in MCE, but also identification of the phosphorylation site based on MS/MS.

Ultrasensitive nuclease activity and inhibition assay using microchip electrophoresis with laser induced fluorescence detection

A novel microchip electrophoresis method with laser induced fluorescence detection was developed for ultrasensitive detection of nuclease activity and inhibitors.

Precise determination of N‐acetylcysteine in pharmaceuticals by microchip electrophoresis

A novel microchip electrophoresis method for the rapid and high-precision determination of N-acetylcysteine, a pharmaceutically active ingredient, in mucolytics has been developed. Isotachophoresis separations were carried out at pH 6.0 on a microchip with conductivity detection. The methods of external calibration and internal standard were used to evaluate the results. The internal standard method effectively eliminated variations in various working parameters, mainly run-to-run fluctuations of an injected volume. The repeatability and accuracy of N-acetylcysteine determination in all mucolytic preparations tested (Solmucol 90 and 200, and ACC Long 600) were more than satisfactory with the relative standard deviation and relative error values <0.7 and <1.9%, respectively. A recovery range of 99-101% of N-acetylcysteine in the analyzed pharmaceuticals predetermines the proposed method for accurate analysis as well. This work, in general, indicates analytical possibilities of microchip isotachophoresis for the quantitative analysis of simplified samples such as pharmaceuticals that contain the analyte(s) at relatively high concentrations.

Fast High-throughput Screening of the H1N1 Virus by Parallel Detection with Multi-channel Microchip Electrophoresis

A multi-channel microchip electrophoresis (MCME) method with parallel laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) detection was developed for rapid screening of H1N1 virus. The hemagglutinin (HA) and nucleocapsid protein (NP) gene of H1N1 virus were amplified using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The amplified PCR products of the H1N1 virus DNA (HA, 116 bp and NP, 195 bp) were simultaneously detected within 25 s in three parallel channels using an expanded laser beam and a charge-coupled device camera. The parallel separations were demonstrated using a sieving gel matrix of 0.3% poly(ethylene oxide) (<TEX>$M_r$</TEX> = 8,000,000) in <TEX>$1{\times}$</TEX> TBE buffer (pH 8.4) with a programmed step electric field strength (PSEFS). The method was ~20 times faster than conventional slab gel electrophoresis, without any loss of resolving power or reproducibility. The proposed MCME/PSEFS assay technique provides a simple and accurate method for fast high-throughput screening of infectious virus DNA molecules under 400 bp.

Microfludic separation and electrochemical detection of neurotransmitters using a portable Lab‐on‐a‐Chip device (985.1)

The objectives of this study are to develop a new microchip electrophoresis method to simultaneously separate and detect serotonin and epinephrine using a microfluidic device in a given sample and to further evaluate and validate the methodology developed using limit of detection, limit of quantitation, linearity, recoveries at low, middle, high concentration levels, and robustness. Microchip electrophoresis uses capillary electrophoresis to separate the analytes and electrochemical detection to detect them. It is considered to be the stride towards a “true” Lab‐on‐a‐Chip (LOC), which integrates all the steps of an analytical process (separation and detection) on a single compact microfluidic device. These devices offer several advancements such as high speed, great versatility, low cost, performance of parallel assays, portability for on‐site detection, and negligible consumption of reagents/sample and waste generation. Electrochemical detection in conjunction with these capillary electrophoresis microchips has been proven to be effective due to characteristics such as inherent miniaturization, sensitivity, low cost, portability, short measurement time, and compatibility with other microfabrication technology. The precision and sensitivity of the proposed microfluidic platform is comparable to previous reports using other conventional methods based on capillary electrophoresis and high performance liquid chromatography. Detection limits cited with these devices have typically been in the nM to μM range.

Microchip electrophoresis with amperometric detection method for profiling cellular nitrosative stress markers.

The overproduction of nitric oxide (NO) in cells results in nitrosative stress due to the generation of highly reactive species such as peroxynitrite and N2O3. These species disrupt the cellular redox processes through the oxidation, nitration, and nitrosylation of important biomolecules. Microchip electrophoresis (ME) is a fast separation method that can be used to profile cellular nitrosative stress through the separation of NO and nitrite from other redox-active intracellular components such as cellular antioxidants. This paper describes a ME method with electrochemical detection (ME-EC) for the separation of intracellular nitrosative stress markers in macrophage cells. The separation of nitrite, azide (interference), iodide (internal standard), tyrosine, glutathione, and hydrogen peroxide (neutral marker) was achieved in under 40 s using a run buffer consisting of 7.5 to 10 mM NaCl, 10 mM boric acid, and 2 mM TTAC at pH 10.3 to 10.7. Initially, NO production was monitored by the detection of nitrite (NO2(-)) in cell lysates. There was a 2.5- to 4-fold increase in NO2(-) production in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated cells. The concentration of NO2(-) inside a single unstimulated macrophage cell was estimated to be 1.41 mM using the method of standard additions. ME-EC was then used for the direct detection of NO and glutathione in stimulated and native macrophage cell lysates. NO was identified in these studies based on its migration time and rapid degradation kinetics. The intracellular levels of glutathione in native and stimulated macrophages were also compared, and no significant difference was observed between the two conditions.

Ultra-fast separation of infectious disease-related small DNA molecules by single- and multi-channel microchip electrophoresis

An ultra-fast and precise microchip electrophoresis (ME) method was developed for the separation of infectious disease-related small DNA molecules. As a model of infectious disease-related small DNA molecules, the spike glycoprotein (S) gene of the Feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) virus was amplified using reverse transcript polymerase chain reaction. The amplified product of the FIP virus (223-bp) was analyzed within 10s by single-channel ME under a sieving gel of 0.3% poly(ethylene oxide) (Mr=8,000,000) in 1x TBE buffer (pH 8.33) and a short effective channel length of 1.3cm with a programmed step electric field strength (PSEFS) condition as follows: 470.6V/cm for 9s, 294.1V/cm 1.5s, and 470.6V/cm for 9.5s. The single-channel ME/PSEFS method was 50 times faster than that obtained with conventional slab gel electrophoresis. When the single-channel ME method was applied to a multi-channel ME for high-throughput screening, the precision of migration time and peak area showed standard deviations of less than 1.0% without any loss of resolving power. The ME assay technique provides a simple, precise and accurate method for ultra-fast analysis of infectious disease-related DNA under 400-bp.