Electrical control of the glutamate dehydrogenase reaction in polypyrrole membranes

Abstract

The immobilization of enzymes is a key technology for constructing bioreactor and biosensor systems. Among a large variety of methods developed for the immobilization of enzymes, the electrochemical polymerization of pyrroles in the presence of enzymes is particularly interesting [l-4]: the electroconductivity of enzyme-containing polypyrrole membranes facilitates electron transfer between the immobilized redox enzyme and the polymer [5,6]. We have reported the preparation of enzyme-immobilized polypyrrole membranes [5,7-91 and its application to biosensors [8,9]. Both the amount of electrical charge on the conducting polymer membrane and its electroconductivity change when the potential applied to the membrane is varied. Consequently, the number of ions penetrating the membrane also changes 1101. Thus we can control the rate of enzymatic reaction in the polymer membrane which involves ionic substrates. In this study, we report the electrical control of the glutamate dehydrogenase reaction in a polypyrrole ,membrane.