Improving measurement stability and reproducibility of potentiometric sensors for polyions such as heparin

Designing of molecularly imprinted polymer-based potentiometric sensor for the determination of heparin

A novel potentiometric sensor with high selectivity and sensitivity has been developed for the determination of heparin, based on the modification of heparin-imprinted polymer film onto a glassy carbon. The performance of the developed heparin sensor was evaluated, and the results indicated that a sensitive potentiometric sensor could be fabricated. The obtained heparin sensor shows high-selectivity monitoring of heparin, shorter response time (<4 min), wider linear range (0.003-0.7 μM), lower detection limit (0.001 μM), and satisfactory long-term stability (>2 months). The potentiometric sensor was successfully applied to the determination of heparin in heparin sodium injection with recoveries between 97.1% and 110.0%.

Reversible detection of proteases and their inhibitors by a pulsed chronopotentiometric polyion-sensitive electrode

Polymer membrane electrodes operated by pulsed chronopotentiometry have recently been introduced to replace traditional ion-selective electrodes for a number of applications. While ion-selective electrodes for the polycation protamine have been reported, for instance, a pulsed chronopotentiometric readout mode (called here pulstrode) provides improved stability and reproducibility while exhibiting sufficient selectivity for the direct detection of protamine in undiluted whole blood samples. Here, such protamine-sensitive pulstrodes are applied for the real-time detection of the activity of the protease trypsin and its soybean inhibitor. This is possible because small fragments produced by the trypsin digestion are not detectable by the protamine-sensing membrane. The real-time response to the proteolytic reaction is shown to exhibit good reproducibility and reversibility, and the initial reaction rate is dependent on the concentration of the protease and its inhibitor.

Pulstrodes: triple pulse control of potentiometric sensors

Ion-selective electrode membranes based on hydrophobic materials doped with chemically selective host molecules are an attractive sensing technology but normally suffer from a limited sensitivity, given by the Nernst equation, and a direct reliance on the reference electrode potential, which makes miniaturization difficult. These fundamental problems are addressed here by imposing a multipulse electrochemical excitation signal onto ion-selective membranes that lack ion-exchange properties. Current pulses are responsible for the generation of ion fluxes in the direction of the membrane, which give reproducible super-Nernstian response slopes that originate from depletion processes at the membrane surface. Membranes may also be measured at zero current after this pulse, giving super-Nernstian response regions at lower concentrations. Difference potentials obtained from subsequent pulses give about 10-fold higher sensitivities than predicted on the basis of the Nernst equation.

Methods for reducing biosensor membrane biofouling

The deleterious effect that biofouling has on sensor stability is a serious impediment to the development of long term implanted biosensors. This paper reviews the surface modification strategies currently employed to minimize membrane biofouling of in vivo sensors. Nine sensor modifications are discussed herein: hydrogels, phospholipid-based biomimicry, flow-based systems, Nafion, surfactants, naturally derived materials, covalent attachments, diamond-like carbons, and topology.

Direct potentiometric information on total ionic concentrations

Polymeric membrane ion-selective electrodes exhibit an apparently super-Nernstian response at low sample activities if inner solutions are used that induce strong zero-current fluxes of primary ions toward the inner compartment. This is due to the limited ion fluxes in the aqueous boundary layer near the membrane. In the presence of labile complexes, the effective flux rate is increased and the emf depends on the total concentration of the ions. The concept is illustrated experimentally with calcium-selective electrodes based on the ionophore N,N-dicyclohexyl-N',N'-dioctadecyl-3-oxapentanediamide (ETH 5234) that either respond to total or free ion concentrations. Samples can be distinguished that contain varying levels of total calcium but are all buffered with EDTA to the same free calcium concentration of 5 x 10(-8) M.

Renewable pH cross-sensitive potentiometric heparin sensors with incorporated electrically charged H+ ionophores

Polymer membrane-based potentiometric sensors have been developed earlier to provide a rapid and direct method of analysis for polyions such as heparin, a natural anticoagulant administered to prevent thrombus formation during cardiovascular surgery. These heparin sensors are irreversible, requiring a membrane renewal procedure between measurements which currently prevents the sensors from being used for continuous monitoring of blood heparin. A newly developed heparin sensor is shown here to allow an alternate and more practical method of membrane renewal. The electrically charged H+ ionophore 5-(octadecanoyloxy)-2-(4-nitrophenylazo)-phenol (ETH 2412) is incorporated as an additional ionophore into a heparin-sensing membrane. This membrane will respond to pH only at low H+ concentrations, while sample anions are coextracted with H+ ions into the membrane at physiological pH. In buffered samples at physiological pH, the sensors will therefore respond to heparin via an ion-exchange mechanism with chloride anions. The pH cross-sensitive heparin-sensing membranes are shown to give an excellent potentiometric response toward heparin in aqueous samples at physiological pH and Cl-levels as well as in undiluted whole blood with no loss of heparin response. The membrane renewal is accomplished by moderately increasing the pH of the sample, causing heparin to diffuse out of the membrane with H+ ions. Reproducibilities are, with less than 1 mV standard deviation, improved over the classical system. Unlike the high NaCl concentration used to strip heparin from the previously established heparin sensor, the pH change used here could ultimately be performed locally at the sample-membrane interface, allowing the sensor to be used for automated long-term monitoring of heparin in blood. A theoretical model is presented to explain the experimental results.