Cell viability and drug evaluation biosensing system based on disposable AuNPs/MWCNT nanocomposite modified...

Cell viability, as an important index to evaluate drug effects, usually was measured by tetrazolium colorimetric assay, playing a key role in drug development and drug screening. Tedious operating procedures, unsatisfactory sensitivity and abominable environments perplex researchers to acquire more detailed in vivo-relevant biological information. Herein, a simple and low-cost cell viability and drug evaluation biosensing system-based on multiwalled carbon nanotubes, gold nanoparticles and Nafion modified screen-printed electrode (SPE) biosensor was constructed for detection of dopamine (DA) released from living cells to evaluate cytotoxicity of antineoplastic drugs such as cisplatin and resveratrol. The biosensing system was demonstrated to display exceptional selectivity, excellent flexibility and good stability toward DA measurement in complex bio-samples. Additionally, the satisfactory recoveries of DA in real samples revealed the reliability and accuracy of the biosensing system in practical application. The IC₅₀ curves respectively obtained by the biosensing system and tetrazolium colorimetric assay provided similar IC₅₀ value but distinctly different dose-effect relationship, which confirmed the enormous potential of the biosensor in cell viability and described drug efficacy profiles in cell function. In short, the cell viability and drug evaluation system using SPE biosensor paves a new way in drug screening and pharmaceutical application to measure bioactive molecule such as DA.