Cysteine residues reduce the severity of dopamine electrochemical fouling
Journal article, 2016

The fouling of neurotransmitter during electrochemical detection can dramatically jeopardize the viability of the sensor. Several recent developments in electrode fabrication and design have helped mitigating this issue. For instance, carbon nanotube fiber (CNTF) electrodes were found to be more resistant to fouling than the traditional carbon fiber (CF) electrodes. Here, we investigate the fouling resistance of these two materials in the presence of albumin. Interestingly, our data shows that the presence of albumin reduces the impact of dopamine (DA) fouling in a dose-dependent manner. A protective effect from DA fouling was also observed for other thiol containing substances, thus hinting that the sulfur competes with the amine moiety for the nucleophilic binding to the oxidized catechol, a critical step initiating DA fouling, and therefore reduces the rate of DA polymerization on the electrode surface. Overall, this study furthers our understanding of the mechanisms controlling DA detection in situ, and suggests using solutions of albumin as a background for calibrating sensors.

electrochemical fouling

dopamine

carbon nanotube fiber

carbon fiber

microelectrode

Author

Wolfgang Harreither

University of Gothenburg

R. Trouillon

University of Gothenburg

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL)

P. Poulin

Centre de Recherche Paul Pascal

W. Neri

Centre de Recherche Paul Pascal

Andrew Ewing

University of Gothenburg

Chalmers, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chemistry and Biochemistry

Gulnara Safina

Chalmers, Physics, Biological Physics

University of Gothenburg

Electrochimica Acta

0013-4686 (ISSN)

Vol. 210 622-629

Subject Categories

Inorganic Chemistry

DOI

10.1016/j.electacta.2016.05.124

More information

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2/1/2022 3