Electrochemical assay for the determination of nitric oxide metabolites using copper(II) chlorophyllin modified screen printed electrodes.

This work presents a novel electrochemical assay for the collective measurement of nitric oxide (NO) and its metabolites nitrite (NO2(-)) and nitrate (NO3(-)) in volume miniaturized sample at low cost using copper(II) chlorophyllin (CuCP) modified sensor electrode. Zinc oxide (ZnO) incorporated screen printed carbon electrode (SPCE) was used as a host matrix for the immobilization of CuCP. The morphological changes of the ZnO and CuCP modified electrodes were investigated using scanning electron microscopy. The electrochemical characterization of CuCP-ZnO-SPCE exhibited the characteristic quasi-reversible redox peaks at the potential +0.06 V versus Ag/AgCl. This biosensor electrode showed a wide linear range of response over NO concentrations from 200 nM to 500 μM with a detection limit of 100 nM and sensitivity of 85.4 nA μM(-1). Furthermore, NO2(-) measurement showed linearity of 100 nM to 1mM with a detection limit of 100 nM for NO2(-) and sensitivity of 96.4 nA μM(-1). Then, the concentration of NO3(-) was measured after its enzymatic conversion into NO2(-). Using this assay, the concentrations of NO, NO2(-), and NO3(-) present in human plasma samples before and after beetroot supplement were estimated using suitable membrane coated CuCP-ZnO-SPCE and validated with the standard Griess method.