Determination of methotrexate in spiked human blood serum using multi-frequency electrochemical immittance spectroscopy and multivariate data analysis.

This article describes an attempt to develop a sensor based on multi-frequency immittance spectroscopy for the determination of methotrexate (MTX) in blood serum using gold electrodes modified with antibodies. The attachment of antibodies was monitored with electrochemical immittance spectroscopy (EIS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The EIS measurements of MTX resulted in a data matrix of size 39 × 55. The data were analysed using multivariate data analysis and showed a concentration dependence and time dependence that could be separated. This allowed the calculation of a multivariate calibration model. The model showed good linear behavior on a logarithmic scale offering a detection limit of 5 × 10-12 mol L-1.