Biosensors for antioxidant evaluation in biological systems.

The prevention of oxidative reactions in a biological medium as well as the role of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in chronic degenerative diseases are questions that continue to be investigated. Electrochemical biosensors have shown attractive features to evaluate the oxidative stress condition at a level comparable to chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques. The biosensors developed so far are based on direct analysis of specific indicators such as biomarkers of oxidative stress on the monitoring of reactive oxygen species the free radicals in cells or tissues, aiming to obtain a correlation between the index obtained from these indicators with the oxidative stress levels in cells. In this review we will provide an overview of the development of electrochemical biosensors to evaluate the content of antioxidants and reactive oxygen species in physiological systems. Some discussion regarding the analysis of antioxidant capacity at the single cell level is also presented.