Peroxidase-like Nanozyme Composite-based Colorimetric Determination of Glutathione and Cysteine

Abstract

Simple, low-cost, and fast determination of cysteine and glutathione with high sensitivity is an essential problem to evaluate the physiological processes in living organisms. Artificial nanozymes have provided considerable opportunities in biosensing. In this work, using a graphene-based ternary nanozyme, we present a simple but efficient colorimetric method for the determination of cysteine and glutathione. The nanozyme exhibits excellent and stable catalytic performance toward H₂O₂ and catalyzes the 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine chromogenic reaction. However, this reaction is significantly suppressed by cysteine and glutathione. Thus, a sensitive colorimetric method is presented based upon this inhibition. Excellent performance with low detection limits, good selectivity, and rapid analysis suggests potential bioanalytical applications for the determination of cysteine and glutathione.

Keywords:

• Biosensor
• colorimetry
• cysteine
• glutathione
• reduced graphene oxide@hemin@gold nanoflower nanozyme
• spectrophotometry

Author contributions

Conceptualization, Wengan Zhang; Data curation, Wengan Zhang; Funding acquisition, Jing Liu and Bo Wang; Investigation, Binjie Chen and Ruke Wang; Methodology, Wengan Zhang; Project administration, Jing Liu and Bo Wang; Supervision, Jing Liu and Bo Wang; Writing-original draft, Wengan Zhang; Writing-review & editing, Binjie Chen, Ruke Wang, Jing Liu and Bo Wang.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by Shandong Key Laboratory of Biochemical Analysis (SKLBA2204) and the Shandong University of Science and Technology.