title: Amperometric measurements of ethanol on paper with a glucometer.
abstract: Recent advances in electrochemical analysis on filter paper exemplify the versatility of this substrate for high performance testing. Its low-cost, light-weight, and environmentally friendly properties make it particularly attractive for applications in addressing health and environmental safety needs in low-resource settings and developing countries. However, the main drawback to sensitive electrochemical testing is the use of a potentiostat, a bench-top instrument that is extremely expensive, thereby negating the some of the benefits of paper-based devices. Hence there is a need to develop paper-devices for use with handheld, portable device readers that can extract quantitative readouts. In this study, we developed a method to use micro-paper electrochemical devices, or µPEDs, with a glucose meter, which are used for personal monitoring of blood glucose levels. Ethanol was chosen as a model target analyte due to its importance in the global issue of road safety. µPEDs were simple in design and could be tested with a potentiostat. We observed that inclusion of the stabilizer trehalose was critical to preparing µPEDs for later analysis. In addition, an NAD(+)-dependent enzyme was used to impart selectivity to the biosensor, which also represents a class of enzymes with targets relevant to the health and food industry.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, 02215.
authors.forename: Grace
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, 02215. Electronic address: zaman@bu.edu.
authors.forename: Muhammad H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Zaman
mesh_terms: D000426:Alcohol Dehydrogenase / Q000737:chemistry; D015374:Biosensing Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation*; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000032:analysis; D015190:Blood Glucose Self-Monitoring / Q000295:instrumentation; D034201:Computers, Handheld; D055664:Electrochemical Techniques; D000431:Ethanol / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D009243:NAD / Q000737:chemistry; D010209:Paper; D011190:Potassium Cyanide / Q000737:chemistry; D012996:Solutions; D014199:Trehalose / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D012996:Solutions; D009243:NAD; D000431:Ethanol; D014199:Trehalose; D000426:Alcohol Dehydrogenase; D011190:Potassium Cyanide
keywords: Amperometry; Filter paper; Glucose meter; Trehalose