New Signal Readout Principle for Solid-Contact Ion-Selective Electrodes.

A novel approach to signal transduction concerning solid-contact ion-selective electrodes (SC-ISE) with a conducting polymer (CP) as the solid contact is investigated. The method presented here is based on constant potential coulometry, where the potential of the SC-ISE vs the reference electrode is kept constant using a potentiostat. The change in the potential at the interface between the ion-selective membrane (ISM) and the sample solution, due to the change in the activity of the primary ion, is compensated with a corresponding but opposite change in the potential of the CP solid contact. This enforced change in the potential of the solid contact results in a transient reducing/oxidizing current flow through the SC-ISE. By measuring and integrating the current needed to transfer the CP to a new state of equilibrium, the total cumulated charge that is linearly proportional to the change of the logarithm of the primary ion activity is obtained. In this work, different thicknesses of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) doped with poly(styrenesulfonate) (PSS) were used as solid contact. Also, coated wire electrodes (CWEs) were included in the study to show the general validity of the new approach. The ISM employed was selective for K(+) ions, and the selectivity of the membrane under implementation of the presented transduction mechanism was confirmed by measurements performed with a constant background concentration of Na(+) ions. A unique feature of this signal readout principle is that it allows amplification of the analytical signal by increasing the capacitance (film thickness) of the solid contact of the SC-ISE.

Mesoporous silica particle-PLA-PANI hybrid scaffolds for cell-directed intracellular drug delivery and tissue vascularization.

Instructive materials are expected to revolutionize stem cell based tissue engineering. As many stem cell cues have adverse effects on normal tissue homeostasis, there is a need to develop bioactive scaffolds which offer locally retained and cell-targeted drug delivery for intracellular release in targeted cell populations. Further, the scaffolds need to support vascularization to promote tissue growth and function. We have developed an electrospun PLA-PANI fiber scaffold, and incorporated mesoporous silica nanoparticles within the scaffold matrix to obtain cell-targeted and localized drug delivery. The isotropy of the scaffold can be tuned to find the optimal morphology for a given application and the scaffold is electroactive to support differentiation of contractile tissues. We demonstrate that there is no premature drug release from particles under physiological conditions over a period of one week and that the drug is released upon internalization of particles by cells within the scaffold. The scaffold is biocompatible, supports muscle stem cell differentiation and cell-seeded scaffolds are vascularized in vivo upon transplantation on the chorioallantoic membrane of chicken embryos. The scaffold is a step towards instructive biomaterials for local control of stem cell differentiation, and tissue formation supported by vascularization and without adverse effects on the homeostasis of adjacent tissues due to diffusion of biological cues.

Instrument-free control of the standard potential of potentiometric solid-contact ion-selective electrodes by short-circuiting with a conventional reference electrode.

A simple, instrument-free method to control the standard potential (E°) of potentiometric solid-contact ion-selective electrodes (SC-ISE) is described. In this method, the electrode potential of a SC-ISE is reset by short-circuiting the electrode with a metallic wire to a conventional Ag/AgCl/3 M KCl reference electrode (RE) in a solution containing primary ions. The method is studied experimentally for SC-ISEs where the conducting polymer poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) doped with the bulky anion poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate), PEDOT(PSS), is used as the solid contact. Three different types of ion-selective membranes (ISMs) are studied: two potassium-selective membranes, with and without the lipohilic additive tetradodecylammonium tetrakis(4-chlorophenyl)borate (ETH-500) and a cation-sensitive membrane without an ionophore. When the SC-ISE is short-circuited with the RE, the PEDOT(PSS) layer is oxidized or reduced, thereby shifting the potential of the SC-ISE to the proximity of the potential of the RE so that the potential difference between these two electrodes becomes zero or close to zero. The slope of the calibration curve is preserved after the short-circuit treatment of the SC-ISEs. The short-circuiting method is an important step toward calibration-free potentiometric analysis.