An electrochemical biosensor array for rapid detection of alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase.

An increment of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) or aspartate aminotransferase (AST) in human serum indicates an abnormal symptom of the liver. Hence, an electrochemical biosensor array that uses micro electro mechanical systems technology is required for rapid and integrated measurement of ALT/AST. Here we describe a biosensor array consisting of two glutamate sensors. It turned out that porous silicon layers formed on each working electrode were useful to increase the effective surface area. This biosensor array was constructed with platinum electrodes and a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microchannel. Electrodes in sampling wells minimized a cross-interference effect and permitted multiple sampling by immobilization with glutamate oxidase using a silanization technique. The device sensitivities derived from semi-logarithmic plots were 0.145 microA/(U/l) for ALT and 0.463 microA/(U/l) for AST over a range of 1.3 U/l to 250 U/l. Hene, this ALT/AST biosensor array can be applied in diagnostic and home use.

Electrochemical biosensor array for liver diagnosis using silanization technique on nanoporous silicon electrode.

An electrochemical biosensor array system was fabricated for the diagnosis and monitoring of liver diseases. Analysis on this array system with multiple samples was performed for point-of-care testing or home-use applications. Cholesterol, bilirubin and aminotransferases present in the serum are well-known biomarkers for liver diseases. For this study, we describe our biosensor array system consisting of cholesterol, bilirubin and glutamate sensors. To immobilize sensing enzymes on the array system, we employed a silanization technique. We observed that porous silicon layers formed on each working electrode notably increase the effective surface area. Sensing electrodes were placed in sampling wells to minimize the cross-interference effect so that multiple sampling would be possible with a low noise current. Compared with traditional analyte measurement procedures, our novel analytical device demonstrated acceptable sensitivities for the analyses of multiple samples and analytes without a marked cross-interference effect. The device sensitivities observed were 0.2656 microA/mM for cholesterol, 0.15354 mA/mM for bilirubin, 0.13698 microA/(U/l) for alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and 0.45439 microA/(U/l) for aspartate aminotransferase (AST).