(Invited) Electrochemical Microbiosensors for Real-Time Monitoring of Reactive Oxygen Species in Living Tissues

Abstract

Understanding fundamental mechanisms involved in the progression and development of diseases is of great physiological and pathological importance. Such studies require the availability of effective methods to probe biochemical processes in real time and allow accurate detection and quantification of biomarkers and mediators of injury. Study of the role and mechanism of action of these mediators is also critical to develop therapies and assess pharmacological effects. However, the presence of these chemicals at very low concentrations and variable levels and the complexity of the biological environment pose a great challenge for their detection. Using custom designed microelectrodes, electrochemistry provides unique opportunities to detect reactive species in living tissues, providing direct and real time evidence of reactive oxygen (ROS) levels with high spatial resolution. This presentation will discuss our efforts to fabricate microbiosensing platforms for investigating fundamental physiological and biochemical mechanisms in vivo and in vitro, particularly those associated with ischemia and reperfusion injury. The influence of the microelectrode design parameters including surface coatings and electrode size, and the ability of the sensor to obtain quantitative spatial and temporal analytical data of the release and distribution of oxidative stress markers will be provided with examples of applications. Advantages and limitations of these systems for measurements in real biological environments will be discussed. Our results demonstrate the potential of electrochemical techniques to generate information about biomarkers and obtain fundamental biochemical-relevant information on physiology, metabolism and disease states in living systems.