Search Results (7)

The inclusion of online, in situ biosensors in microfluidic cell cultures is important to monitor and characterize a physiologically mimicking environment. This work presents the performance of second-generation electrochemical enzymatic biosensors to detect glucose in cell culture media. Glutaraldehyde and ethylene glycol diglycidyl ether (EGDGE) were tested as cross-linkers to immobilize glucose oxidase and an osmium-modified redox polymer on the surface of carbon electrodes. Tests employing screen printed electrodes showed adequate performance in a Roswell Park Memorial Institute (RPMI-1640) media spiked with fetal bovine serum (FBS). Comparable first-generation sensors were shown to be heavily affected by complex biological media. This difference is explained in terms of the respective charge transfer mechanisms. Under the tested conditions, electron hopping between Os redox centers was less vulnerable than H₂O₂ diffusion to biofouling by the substances present in the cell culture matrix. By employing pencil leads as electrodes, the incorporation of these electrodes in a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microfluidic channel was achieved simply and at a low cost. Under flow conditions, electrodes fabricated using EGDGE presented the best performance with a limit of detection of 0.5 mM, a linear range up to 10 mM, and a sensitivity of 4.69 μA mM⁻¹ cm⁻². Full article

Nanomaterials have been extensively explored in developing sensors due to their unique properties, contributing to the development of reliable sensor designs with improved sensitivity and specificity. Herein, we propose the construction of a fluorescent/electrochemical dual-mode self-powered biosensor for advanced biosensing using DNA-templated silver nanoclusters (AgNCs@DNA). AgNC@DNA, due to its small size, exhibits advantageous characteristics as an optical probe. We investigated the sensing efficacy of AgNCs@DNA as a fluorescent probe for glucose detection. Fluorescence emitted by AgNCs@DNA served as the readout signal as a response to more H₂O₂ being generated by glucose oxidase for increasing glucose levels. The second readout signal of this dual-mode biosensor was utilized via the electrochemical route, where AgNCs served as charge mediators between the glucose oxidase (GOx) enzyme and carbon working electrode during the oxidation process of glucose catalyzed by GOx. The developed biosensor features low-level limits of detection (LODs), ~23 μM for optical and ~29 μM for electrochemical readout, which are much lower than the typical glucose concentrations found in body fluids, including blood, urine, tears, and sweat. The low LODs, simultaneous utilization of different readout strategies, and self-powered design demonstrated in this study open new prospects for developing next-generation biosensor devices. Full article

In this study, a review of second-generation voltage conveyor (VCII) and current conveyor (CCII) circuits for the conditioning of bio signals and sensors is presented. The CCII is the most known current-mode active block, able to overcome some of the limitations of the classical operational amplifier, which provides an output current instead of a voltage. The VCII is nothing more than the dual of the CCII, and for this reason it enjoys almost all the properties of the CCII but also provides an easy-to-read voltage as an output signal. A broad set of solutions for relevant sensors and biosensors employed in biomedical applications is considered. This ranges from the widespread resistive and capacitive electrochemical biosensors now used in glucose and cholesterol meters and in oximetry to more specific sensors such as ISFETs, SiPMs, and ultrasonic sensors, which are finding increasing applications. This paper also discusses the main benefits of this current-mode approach over the classical voltage-mode approach in the realization of readout circuits that can be used as electronic interfaces for different types of biosensors, including higher circuit simplicity, better low-noise and/or high-speed performance, and lower signal distortion and power consumption. Full article

Laser-induced graphene (LIG) has been applied in many different sensing devices, from mechanical sensors to biochemical sensors. In particular, LIG fabricated on paper (PaperLIG) shows great promise for preparing cheap, flexible, and disposable biosensors. Distinct from the fabrication of LIG on polyimide, a two-step process is used for the fabrication of PaperLIG. In this study, firstly, a highly conductive PaperLIG is fabricated. Further characterization of PaperLIG confirmed that it was suitable for developing biosensors. Subsequently, the PaperLIG was used to construct a biosensor by immobilizing glucose oxidase, aminoferrocene, and Nafion on the surface. The developed glucose biosensor could be operated at a low applied potential (−90 mV) for amperometric measurements. The as-prepared biosensor demonstrated a limit of detection of (50–75 µM) and a linear range from 100 µM to 3 mM. The influence of the concentration of the Nafion casting solution on the performance of the developed biosensor was also investigated. Potential interfering species in saliva did not have a noticeable effect on the detection of glucose. Based on the experimental results, the simple-to-prepare PaperLIG-based saliva glucose biosensor shows great promise for application in future diabetes management. Full article

The yellow rust of wheat (caused by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici) is a devastating fungal infection that is responsible for significant wheat yield losses. The main challenge with the detection of this disease is that it can only be visually detected on the leaf surface between 7 and 10 days after infection, and by this point, counter measures such as the use of fungicides are generally less effective. The hypothesis of this study is to develop and use a compact electrochemical-based biosensor for the early detection of P. striiformis, thus enabling fast countermeasures to be taken. The biosensor that was developed consists of three layers. The first layer mimics the wheat leaf surface morphology. The second layer consists of a sucrose/agar mixture that acts as a substrate and contains a wheat-derived terpene volatile organic compound that stimulates the germination and growth of the spores of the yellow rust pathogen P. s. f. sp. tritici. The third layer consists of a nonenzymatic glucose sensor that produces a signal once invertase is produced by P. striiformis, which comes into contact with the second layer, thereby converting sucrose to glucose. The results show the proof that this innovative biosensor can enable the detection of yellow rust spores in 72 h. Full article

In this paper, we present the first highly porous gold (h-PG) microneedles-based second-generation biosensor for minimally invasive monitoring of glucose in artificial interstitial fluid (ISF). A highly porous microneedles-based electrode was prepared by a simple electrochemical self-templating method that involves two steps, gold electrodeposition and hydrogen bubbling at the electrode, which were realized by applying a potential of −2 V versus a saturated calomel electrode (SCE). The highly porous gold surface of the microneedles was modified by immobilization of 6-(ferrocenyl)hexanethiol (FcSH) as a redox mediator and subsequently by immobilization of a flavin adenine dinucleotide glucose dehydrogenase (FAD-GDH) enzyme using a drop-casting method. The microneedles-based FcSH/FAD-GDH biosensor allows for the detection of glucose in artificial interstitial fluid with an extended linear range (0.1–10 mM), high sensitivity (50.86 µA cm⁻² mM⁻¹), stability (20% signal loss after 30 days), selectivity (only ascorbic acid showed a response about 10% of glucose signal), and a short response time (3 s). These properties were favourably compared to other microneedles-based glucose biosensors reported in the literature. Finally, the microneedle-arrays-based second-generation biosensor for glucose detection was tested in artificial interstitial fluid opportunely spiked with different concentrations of glucose (simulating healthy physiological conditions while fasting and after lunch) and by placing the electrode into a simulated chitosan/agarose hydrogel skin model embedded in the artificial ISF (continuous glucose monitoring). The obtained current signals had a lag-time of about 2 min compared to the experiments in solution, but they fit perfectly into the linearity range of the biosensor (0.1–10 mM). These promising results show that the proposed h-PG microneedles-based sensor could be used as a wearable, disposable, user-friendly, and automated diagnostic tool for diabetes patients. Full article

Second-generation glucose biosensors are presently the mainstream commercial solution for blood glucose measurement of diabetic patients. Screen-printed carbon electrodes (SPCEs) are the most-used substrate for glucose testing strips. This study adopted hydrophilic and positively charged α-poly-l-lysine (αPLL) as the entrapment matrix for the immobilization of negatively charged glucose oxidase (GOx) and ferricyanide (FIC) on SPCEs to construct a disposable second-generation glucose biosensor. The αPLL modification is shown to facilitate the redox kinetics of FIC and ferrocyanide on the SPCEs. The SPCEs coated with 0.5 mM GOx, 99.5 mM FIC, and 5 mM αPLL had better sensitivity for glucose detection due to the appreciable effect of protonated αPLL on the promotion of electron transfer between GOx and FIC. Moreover, the SPCEs coated with 0.5 mM GOx, 99.5 mM FIC, and 5 mM αPLL were packaged as blood glucose testing strips for the measurement of glucose-containing human serum samples. The glucose testing strips had good linearity from 2.8 mM to 27.5 mM and a detection limit of 2.3 mM. Moreover, the 5 mM αPLL-based glucose testing strips had good long-term stability to maintain GOx activity in aging tests at 50 °C. Full article