Sustainable Xanthine-Grafted Alginate Biosensing Platform for Metabolic Disorder Diagnostics

Area of Science:

• Electrochemistry
• Materials Science
• Biotechnology

Background:

• Uric acid (UA) detection is crucial for diagnosing conditions like gout and kidney disease.
• Developing sensitive, selective, and sustainable biosensors remains a key challenge in diagnostics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an efficient, durable, and sustainable electrochemical biosensing platform for uric acid detection.
• To functionalize sodium alginate (Alg) with a xanthine derivative (AlgX) and complex it with copper ions (AlgXCu).

Main Methods:

• Eco-biocompatible synthesis using water, H2O2, and ascorbic acid.
• Complexation of AlgX with Cu2+ ions to form AlgXCu with low metal content (4.8%).
• Electrochemical characterization using differential pulse voltammetry on a screen-printed carbon electrode (SPCE).

Main Results:

• High sensitivity (14.28 μA μM⁻¹ cm⁻²) and a low limit of detection (0.025 μM) for UA.
• Simultaneous detection of UA and dopamine (DA) with excellent selectivity.
• Validated applicability in synthetic saliva and urine samples with high accuracy (97.9-105% recovery) and reproducibility (RSD ≤ 2.4%).

Conclusions:

• The AlgXCu/SPCE biosensor is a highly efficient, sustainable, and selective platform for UA detection.
• The sensor demonstrates potential for practical applications in biological fluid analysis.
• This work highlights a green chemistry approach for developing advanced electrochemical biosensors.