Hydrogel from Nata de coco for biomarker detection

Bacterial cellulose (BC) or well-known as Nata de coco is a natural material with many beneficial physical properties such as biocompatibility, hydrophilicity and high porosity. Herein this research, composite hydrogels have been developed by incorporating carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) into BC to improve re-swelling property after drying. Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) were embedded within the BC/CMC composite hydrogel using in situ chemical reduction. AuNPs were uniformly distributed wihin the hydrogel having a diameter of approximately 13 nm. The BC/CMC/AuNPs composite hydrogels were applied for preconcentration of targeted analytes for laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (LDI-MS). In particular, AuNPs can act as the selective capture probes for preconcentration of glutathione (GSH) an important thiol-containing biomarker of Alzheimer’s disease and self-matrix for LDI-MS. BC/CMC/AuNPs composite hydrogel can be used for selective adsorption of GSH in wide range and low limit of detection which is promising for distinguishing between normal and Alzheimer’s patients. Furthermore, the BC/CMC/AuNPs composite hydrogel can effectively preconcentrate GSH approximately 10 times upon adsorption allowing for ultrasensitive detection of GSH required for disease diagnosis.