Detection of Glutathione <i>in Vitro</i> and in Cells by the Controlled Self-Assembly of
Nanorings
- Publication date
- Publisher
Abstract
Taking advantage of a reduction-controlled biocompatible
condensation
reaction and self-assembly, we have developed a new method for the
determination of glutathione (GSH) concentration <i>in vitro</i> and in HepG2 human liver cancer cells. Upon reduction by GSH under
physiological conditions (pH 7.4 in buffer), the small molecule <b>CBT-Cys(SEt)</b> condenses and self-assembles into nanorings,
increasing the UV absorbance at 380 nm (with significant linear correlation
in the 0–87 μM GSH range and a limit of detection of
1 μM). This method is also selective to GSH rather than cysteine
in biological samples. Through the use of added internal standards,
we successfully determined the concentration of GSH in HepG2 cells
to be 14.96 μM (2.99 fmol/cell). To better understand the mechanism
of nanoring self-assembly, the condensation product of <b>CBT-Cys(SEt)</b> formed using different concentrations of GSH and different reaction
times were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM)