Carbon dots doped with nitrogen as an ultrasensitive fluorescent probe for thrombin activity monitoring and inhibitor screening.

A simple and sensitive fluorometric assay based on nitrogen-doped carbon dots (N-CDs) was developed for the determination of thrombin (TB) activity in human serum samples and living cells. The novel N-CDs were prepared by a facile one-pot hydrothermal method using 1,2-ethylenediamine and levodopa as precursors. Such N-CDs exhibited green fluorescence with excitation/emission peaks at 390/520 nm and a high fluorescence quantum yield of approximately 39.2%. H-D-Phenylalanyl-L-pipecolyl-Larginine-p-nitroaniline-dihydrochloride (S-2238) was hydrolyzed by TB to produce p-nitroaniline which was capable of quenching the fluorescence of N-CDs due to an inner filter effect. This assay was used to detect TB activity with a low detection limit of 11.3 fM. The proposed sensing method was then expanded to the TB inhibitor screening and exhibited excellent applicability. As a typical TB inhibitor, argatroban was determined in a concentration as low as 1.43 nM. The method has also been successfully employed for the determination of TB activity in living HeLa cells. This work showed significant potential for TB activity assay in clinical and biomedicine applications. [Display omitted] • Novel nitrogen-doped carbon dots (N-CDs) were prepared with high fluorescence quantum yield. • The developed method based N-CDs displayed excellent sensitivity and selectivity, outperforming other reported methods. • The method can be applied for screening of thrombin inhibitors. • This fluorescent sensor was used for visual detection of thrombin in living HeLa cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]