Improving measurement stability and reproducibility of potentiometric sensors for polyions such as heparin

The growing importance of polymer membrane-based potentiometric polyion sensors in biomedical research and clinical measurements has brought up the question of how accurate and reproducible these sensors are. Indeed, recent research has revealed that these sensors behave quite differently than classical ion-selective electrodes. This paper explores ways to improve measurement reproducibility and long term potential stability by considering the unique pseudo steady-state response mechanism of the polyion sensors developed so far. Heparin may be stripped out of the phase boundary membrane surface with a high sample NaCl concentration and this characteristic is used to modify the calibration procedure in order to avoid memory effects. It is also attempted to reduce long term potential drifts by continuously stripping heparin out of the membrane at the membrane-inner filling solution side.