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Direct electrochemical biosensing in gastrointestinal fluids

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Abstract

Edible electrochemical biosensors with remarkable prolonged resistance to extreme acidic conditions are described for direct glucose sensing in gastrointestinal (GI) fluids of different pH ranges and compositions. Such direct and stable glucose monitoring is realized using carbon-paste biosensors prepared from edible materials, such as olive oil and activated charcoal, shown to protect the activity of the embedded glucose oxidase (GOx) enzyme from strongly acidic conditions. The enzymatic resistance to low-pH deactivation allowed performing direct glucose monitoring in strong acidic environments (pH 1.5) over a 90-min period, while the response of conventional screen-printed (SP) biosensors decreased significantly following 10-min incubation in the same fluid. The developed edible biosensor displayed a linear response between 2 and 10 mM glucose with sensitivity depending on the pH of the corresponding GI fluid. In addition, coating the electrode surface with pH-responsive enteric coatings (Eudragit® L100 and Eudragit® E PO), of different types and densities, allows tuning the sensor activation in gastric and intestinal fluids at specific predetermined times. The attractive characteristics and sensing performance of these edible electrochemical biosensors, along with their pH-responsive actuation, hold considerable promise for the development of ingestible devices towards the biosensing of diverse target analytes after prolonged incubation in challenging body fluids.

Edible biosensors allow direct electrochemical sensing in different gastrointestinal fluids and display remarkable prolonged resistance to extreme acidic conditions.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Center for Wearable Sensors. J.R.S. acknowledges fellowship from CNPq (216981/2014-0).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nanoengineering, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Dr., La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA

    Víctor Ruiz-Valdepeñas Montiel, Juliane R. Sempionatto, Berta Esteban Fernández de Ávila & Joseph Wang

  2. Department of Analytical Chemistry, Complutense University of Madrid, 28040, Madrid, Spain

    Víctor Ruiz-Valdepeñas Montiel, Susana Campuzano & José M. Pingarrón

Authors
  1. Víctor Ruiz-Valdepeñas Montiel
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  2. Juliane R. Sempionatto
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  3. Susana Campuzano
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  4. José M. Pingarrón
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  5. Berta Esteban Fernández de Ávila
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  6. Joseph Wang
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Correspondence to Berta Esteban Fernández de Ávila or Joseph Wang.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Published in the topical collection Young Investigators in (Bio-)Analytical Chemistry with guest editors Erin Baker, Kerstin Leopold, Francesco Ricci, and Wei Wang.

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Ruiz-Valdepeñas Montiel, V., Sempionatto, J.R., Campuzano, S. et al. Direct electrochemical biosensing in gastrointestinal fluids. Anal Bioanal Chem 411, 4597–4604 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-018-1528-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-018-1528-2

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