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Electrochemical Biosensors for Medical and

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Article in Electroanalysis March 2008
Impact Factor: 2.14 DOI: 10.1002/elan.200704121

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616

Review

Electrochemical Biosensors for Medical and Food Applications

Minhaz Uddin Ahmed,a, b Mohammad Mosharraf Hossain,b Eiichi Tamiyaa, b*
a

School of Materials Science, Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST), 1-1 Asahidai, Nomi City, Ishikawa
923-1292, Japan
b
Department of Applied Physics, Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan
*e-mail: tamiya@ap.eng.osaka-u.ac.jp
Received: August 2, 2007
Accepted: October 23, 2007
Abstract
Sensing and quantification of DNA and proteins are becoming increasingly important in biochemistry, medicine and
biotechnology. Traditional analytical techniques are lagging behind the demand for more information in less time, at a
lower cost. An important step forward in this pursuit is to identify an analyte using its electrochemical behavior and to
convert its presence and concentration into perceivable and distinct electrical signals. This review covers the strategies
for electrochemical sensing of biomolecules, mainly, DNA and proteins by label-based and label-free approaches
using disposable electrochemical printed chips and carbon nanotube based field effect transistors. Issues, such as ease
of preparation, robustness, sensitivity, and realization of mass production of the detection strategies are also
considered. A good coverage of the published literature, mostly, a wide treatment of original research articles
reporting novel principles has been made. Finally, this review may help the researchers in developing an
understanding of miniaturized electrochemical biosensors and their possible applications in medical and food science,
with directions for future research.
Keywords: Electrochemical DNA biosensor, DEP chip, Field-effect transistor, Carbon nanotube, DNA recognition
interface, Redox-labels
DOI: 10.1002/elan.200704121

1. Introduction
Electrochemical biosensors, a relatively recent brood of
sensors for the detection of biomolecules like DNA,
proteins etc., are used mainly for medical, food and bioterror analytes and are based on electrochemistry and
electrochemical behavior of biomolecules [1]. Partly due to
advancements in electrochemical measuring systems and
partly due to advancements made in bio-analytical chemistry and related fields, electrochemistry has become a rapidly
growing option in the field of biosensors for a wide range of
medical, food, agricultural and environmental analytes with
an expanding, multi-billion dollar market [2]. The merger
between fast, sensitive, selective, accurate, miniaturizable
and low cost electrochemistry-based sensing [3 11] and
fields like genetics, proteomics, biochemistry, and molecular
biology, leads to the evolution of electrochemical sensors of
unparalleled selectivity and sensitivity for a majority of the
analytes being tried on this platform.
Ranges of sensing technologies including, surface plasmon resonance (SPR), electrical, optical, colorimetric,
chromatographic etc., are employed for sensing bio-analytes. These analytical techniques are expensive [12],
complicated and slow [13], whereas virtually inexhaustible
development opportunity and immense market potential
are giving the development of electrochemical sensors an
edge over the others. Miniaturization and low cost instruElectroanalysis 20, 2008, No. 6, 616 626

mentation can make possible their development into

portable and easy-to-use microsystems and ensure portability for making them into point-of-care devices. Now-adays, sensors for medical and food analysis are becoming
increasingly essential for many reasons. In case of medical
application, electrochemical sensors have been reported for
diagnosis of genetic disorders like SNPs [14], detection of
pathogens [15 21], forensic applications [4 7], drug response measurement [22, 23], and in case of food analysis
electrochemical biosensors have been reported for analyzing food and beverages [24, 25], for detection of GMO
content in food [26], for measuring the freshness of food
[27], etc. Still, there are many avenues to be opened in these
two fields where electrochemical sensors will find their
applications.
In this article we reviewed the advancements made in the
field of electrochemical biosensors targeted at medical and
food analytes. This review encompasses the technology,
performance and commercialization of this brood of
sensors, with special reference to related works carried out
in our laboratory. We have focused on the future development perspectives of this class of sensors, based on the
experience gathered by different groups researching this
field.

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2. Electrochemical Biosensors: Technology

The basic principle of electrochemical sensors is that the
electroactive analyte species is oxidized or reduced on the
working electrode surface, which is subjected to some
predefined pattern of fixed or varying potential, and the
change in electrical parameters resulting from redox
reaction, as a function of the type or concentration of
analyte, is measured. Three options are available, namely,
amperometric, potentiometric and conductometric, each
with their inherent advantages and disadvantages [1]. Of
the electroanalytical techniques used in sensing proteins,
peptides and amino acids, cyclic voltammetry (CV) and
linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) have been used in 40
percent of the sensors reported, normal pulse voltammetry
(NPV), differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) and square
wave voltammetry (SWV) were used in 14 percent of them,
whereas in 12 percent of the cases electrochemical
impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was the technique of choice
[11]. There are many less frequently used techniques as
well.
An electrochemical sensor is a self-contained integrated
system [28] composed of a recognition interface and a
transduction element [29]. Nucleic acid, protein, peptide,
oligonucleotide, etc. may function as a molecular recognition element for the analyte, and bring about electrochemical transformation into the analyte, while the electrochemical transduction element converts the response of
such transformation signal into an electrical signal.
In electrochemical sensing, at present, the usual electrode
configuration involves a three electrode arrangement: the
working electrode, where the electron transfer reaction
takes place, the reference electrode, which maintains a
stable potential with respect to the working electrode and
the auxiliary electrode, made of inert conducting material
like Pt, graphite etc.; with some supporting electrolyte for
the electrode to eliminate electromigration effects, decrease
solution resistivity and maintain the ionic strength constant
[30 32]. Choosing working electrode material is funda-

mental to the success of electrochemical measurement. In

recent years solid electrodes of gold, platinum, silver, nickel,
copper, various doped or undoped forms of carbon, dimensionally stable anions, etc. have replaced the very popular
and successful dropping mercury electrode, on the ground of
toxicity, which won noble prize in chemistry for its inventor
Heyrovsky in 1922. These materials can be either bare or
chemically modified for enhanced selectivity, sensitivity and
stability [33, 34] mostly by using polymers of varied
characteristics. Miniaturization of electrodes, as proposed
by Wightman for the first time [35 37], with the advancement of micromachining, photolithography, microcontact
printing, etc. has led to the development of microelectrodes
(< 2 mm dimension), and has opened the horizon of in vivo
and in vitro applicability of electrochemical sensor systems
requiring only microliter volumes of analyte and reagent [1].
But the demand for a low-cost, disposable, electroanalytical
point-of-care sensor system for easy commercialization was
realized with screen-printed electrodes [38 40], which
involves deposition of electrode material, mainly carbon
and noble metals, on inert PVC or ceramic backing. Cheap,
miniaturized, easy-to-use, disposable chips for electrochemical analysis of bio-analytes are very essential and many
groups are working in this direction. Our group has
developed disposable electrochemical printed (DEP) chips,
which have shown excellent applicability [14, 41 45] and
have already been commercialized at home and abroad.
After several trials, we came up with the designs shown in
Figure 1; their performance in terms of redox signals from
electroactive species are given in Figure 2. The working area
of the carbon working electrode and gold working electrodes are 2.64 mm2 and 3.67 mm2, respectively.
In case of gene-based sensors, electroactive bases guanine
(G) and adenine (A), are oxidized on carbon electrode.
Jelen et al. have reported G and A oxidation signals on
carbon electrodes at 1.0 and 1.3 V in 0.5 M acetate buffer
(pH 4.80) solution [8]. DNA hybridization is detected
through measuring changes in specific signals due to DNA
duplex formation. Usually electrochemical signal decreases

Fig. 1. Disposable electrochemical printed (DEP) chips. A) Screen printed standard carbon working electrode. B) Circular carbon
working electrode with a barrier. C) Circular carbon working electrode without any barrier. D) Screen printed circular gold working
electrode. Reference electrode was Ag/AgCl and counter electrode was of carbon for all DEP chips. c: counter electrode; r: reference
electrode; w: working electrode.
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Fig. 2. 2.0 mM K3[Fe(CN)6] redox signal obtained by cyclic voltammogram on different DEP chips. A) Redox signal obtained from
standard carbon working electrode based DEP chip (as shown in Fig. 1A) where K3[Fe(CN)6] compared with 0.3 M Na2SO4. B) Redox
signal obtained from circular carbon working electrode (as shown in Fig. 1B) where K3[Fe(CN)6] compared with 0.3 M Na2SO4. C)
Redox signal obtained from circular gold working electrode based DEP chip (as shown in Fig. 1D) where K3[Fe(CN)6] compared with
0.3 M Na2SO4.

from the free A and G as they hybridize to their complementary bases, thymine (T) and cytosine (C), respectively.
Carbon nanotubes (CNT), owing to their high aspect
ratio, can be used for surface modification of the working
electrode to increase the electroactive surface area, and
thereby to enhance the sensitivity of electrochemical
sensors [46, 47]. CNTKs lightness, inherent hollowness,
good conductivity and mechanical strength make them a
desired material for nanoelectromechanical devices. CNT
based devices have been the subject of extensive studies, and
the agreement between theoretical predictions and experElectroanalysis 20, 2008, No. 6, 616 626

imental observations are so far satisfactory. Our group has

reported the use of CNT based field effect transistor for
electrochemical micro sensor system [48].
We know that, l-TryptophanKs (Trp) level in plasma is
indicative of the extent of hepatic disease [49]; l-cysteine is a
widely used antioxidant in food industry and also crucial in
many biological processes, and l-Tyrosine (Tyr) is the direct
precursor of various hormones and biogenic amines [50].
Our group has fabricated an electrochemical sensor (Fig. 3)
for detecting these electroactive amino acids using their
oxidation signal on bare and single walled carbon nanotube

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Fig. 3. Experimental set-up for SWCNT-based three-electrode

system: a) SWCNTs as the working electrode, b) Pt wire as the
counter electrode, and c) the reference electrode (Ag/AgCl)
(from [47] with permission).

(SWCNT) arrayed platinum (Pt) electrodes. With SWCNTmodified electrode, a 100-fold increase in sensitivity was
observed [47].

2.1. Label Free and Label Based Approaches

There are two major approaches for electrochemical biorecognition devices, label-free approach and label-based
approach. In the case of label-based approach, a redox
active molecule binds to or intercalates into the analyte,
brings electrochemical change in the analyte, and produces a
certain signal, whereas in the label-free approach the
changes in electrical properties at the interface, due either
to the redox signal of the analyte in contact with the
electrode or the change in interfacial capacitance or
resistance caused by the analyte, are measured [51 59].
In the label-based approach, the labels for electrochemical gene or protein sensing may be intercalator or groove
binder, nonintercalating marker or nanoparticle [60 74].

Casteneda et al. have published an excellent review covering the use of gold nanoparticles for electrochemical sensing
of DNA [75]. Many compounds have been tried as labels by
several groups, for example, hemin was used for electrochemical detection of DNA hybridization and DNA damage [76], daunomycin was used for electrochemical hybridization study of apolipoprotein E (Apo E) [77], methylene
blue was used for guanine signal based detection [78 81],
streptavidin coated gold nanoparticles [82, 83] and Hoechst
33258 were used for DNA quantification [41]. Based on the
biological binding event between a protein and DNA with a
solid transducer and metal nanoparticles, our group has
studied E. coli single-stranded DNA binding (SSB) protein
and single-stranded oligonucleotides conjugated to gold
(Au) nanoparticle label for the electrochemical detection of
DNA hybridization [84]. SSB was attached onto a selfassembled monolayer (SAM) of single-stranded oligonucleotide-modified Au nanoparticle, and the resulting Autagged SSB was used as the hybridization label. Changes in
the Au oxidation signal were monitored upon hybridization
of Au-tagged SSB to the immobilized single-stranded probe
on the electrode surface (Fig. 4).
Protein phosphorylation, important for regulating cellular activities, is amenable to electrochemical detection, and
our group has reported label-free in vitro detection of Tyr
phosphorylation [45]. The current signals from the Tyrosine
(Tyr) kinase substrate peptides were monitored, since
phosphorylation causes a significant suppression in Tyr
oxidation signal. We also observed that electrochemical
oxidation of Tyr distinguishes peptides with Tyr-P residues
from the nonphosphorylated ones. The phosphorylation of
the hydroxyl group of Tyr supposedly prevented oxidation
and also hindered the formation of phenoxonium intermediate in the peptides. Our group also reported enhanced
label-free electrochemical detection of DNA hybridization
by DNA-directed attachment of carbon nanotubes, where

Fig. 4. Schematic illustration of the hybridization detection protocol. Au-tagged SSB binds to the single-stranded probe and amplifies
the Au oxidation signal. However, only a low Au signal can be obtained from the double-stranded hybrid after interaction with SSB
(from [84] with permission).
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multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) were used as

nanowires to attach DNA molecules with the carbon paste
electrode (CPE) [85]. The attachment of MWNT on the
electrode surface was controlled by hybridization between
adenine and thymine containing oligonucleotide. The
guanine oxidation signal, generated by hybridization with
target DNA, offered a simple method for sequence specific
DNA detection.

2.2. Other Approaches

Semiconductors [2], and field effect transistors (FET) [48]
are being tried for construction of miniature electrochemical sensor systems. Our group has reported the detection of
DNA hybridization using CNTFET. Since DNA molecules
are negatively charged and contain a sugar-phosphate
backbone, during DNA hybridization on the surface at the
gate of CNTFETs, negative charges are introduced, and the
conductance of CNT is changed at the gate insulators [48].
DNA samples were introduced to the CNTFETs using a
micro-flow chip, fabricated by using poly-(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) prepolymer. The CNTFET nanosensor array
was placed onto the PDMS, and PNA probe-modified Au
side of the CNFET was facing the open chamber containing
DNA solutions. Electrical measurements were made by
using a semiconductor parameter analyzer connected to a
Ag/AgCl reference electrode immersed into 50 mM
(pH 7.4) phosphate buffer solution (Fig. 5).
Our group has also fabricated a label-free protein
biosensor (Fig. 6) based on aptamer-modified CNTFETs
for the detection of Immunoglobulin E (IgE), and the
performance of this sensor was compared against CNTFET
biosensor using a monoclonal antibody against IgE (IgEmAb). Aptamer-modified CNT-FET sensor provided better
results than the IgE-mAb-modified CNTFETs under the
same experimental conditions [86].
Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) is also an
alternative approach, where the change in the faradic
impedance is measured in the presence of redox species
like ferricyanide [87 99]. EIS has been used with nucleic
acid, conducting polymers or gold nanoparticles for electrochemical sensor development [94 96, 100].

Fig. 5. Schematic diagram of the micro-flow chip developed for

the introduction of DNA samples to the CNTFETs (from [48]
with permission).
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Fig. 6. Schematic structure of the experimental setup for the

detection of IgE using an aptamer-modified CNT-FET device
(figure from [86] with permission).

3. Medical Analytes
3.1. Genetic Disorder
Many genetic disorders are caused by mismatch in base
pairing and such mismatch in a single base pair is popularly
known as single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), which can
be diagnosed by detection of specific DNA sequences [29].
The detection of pathogenic microorganisms also takes
advantage of a similar approach based mainly on DNA
hybridization. Electrochemical DNA biosensors, reported
first by Millan and Mikkelsen [4, 101 103] have led to the
development of miniature, portable, sensitive and accurate
point-of-care diagnostic devices by taking the advantage of
specific affinity of ss-DNA [104], or PNA (peptide nucleic
acid) for its complementary strand. Usually, chemisorptive
or electrostatic adsorptive immobilization of ss-DNA or
PNA onto the electrode surface is used to develop the
recognition interface. Factors to be taken into account for
such sensors are type of probe nucleic acid to be immobilized and its interaction with the surface, method employed
for immobilization, the length of linker attaching nucleic
acid to the surface, the surface coverage of probe and the
solution environment.
SNPs determination was done by our group using the
changes in the electrochemical signal of the mono-base
modified colloidal gold nanoparticles [105]. In the scheme a
chitosan layer was formed on the alkanethiol self-assembled
monolayer-modified Au nanoparticle, and mono-bases were
then attached to Au nanoparticle through their 5 phosphate
group using phosphoramidate bond with the free amino
group of chitosan. When SNPs were found, along with the
mismatched bases which are complementary to the monobase, Au nanoparticles were accumulated on the electrode
surface in presence of DNA polymerase I, causing a
significant change in the Au oxidation signal. Transition
and transverse SNPs, even in the presence of interfering
DNA molecules, were detected using this approach. This

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method has the potential to be implemented into a microarray.

3.2. DNA Damage

Classical means of DNA damage detection are based on
time-consuming and expensive chromatographic and electrophoretic assays, but electrochemical gene sensors offer
rapid and inexpensive means to determine DNA damage
caused by pharmaceutical, chemical or radioactive agents.
Based on the monitoring of oxidation peaks of DNA bases,
guanine and adenine, several groups have reported rapid
detection of irreversible DNA damage, and identification of
chemicals or toxicants causing such damage [106 113],
while some other reports have mentioned the use of guanine
signal for monitoring radiation-DNA and drug-DNA interactions [4, 23, 56, 102, 106 109, 114 118]. Ozsoz et al. have
developed a differential pulse voltammetry based label-free
electrochemical sensing system to detect conformational
damage to fish sperm double stranded DNA caused by
radioactive iodine (I131) and technetium (99mTc) [119].

3.3. Pathogenic Microbe Detection

Our ability to screen nucleic acid rapidly led to the creation
of immense interest to develop gene sensors for specific viral
or bacterial pathogens, and some success has already been
achieved [120]. But one inherent weakness of such detection
is the minute quantity of nucleic acid from the microbes,
which necessitates the sensing being preceded by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for nucleic acid amplification,
with increased cost and analysis time, though the sensitivity
is enhanced by at least three orders of magnitude [121]. Gau
et al. have shown that the integration of nanoscale chemical
structures, like self-assembled monolayer (SAM), with an
electrochemical sensing system, can lead to rapid and
ultralow concentration sensing in protein assays, clinical
chemistry and ionic assays to avoid the need for PCR
amplification. Electrochemical DNA hybridization sensors
have already been reported for waterborne pathogens
Cryptosporidium [20], Escherichia coli, Giardia and Mycobacterium tuberculosis [21]. From our group, the electrochemical detections have been reported for Salmonella
enteritidis, Streptococcus sobrinus and hepatitis B virus [41].
For electrochemical detection of mismatched bases in
hepatitis B virus DNA, methylene blue was used as a redox
indicator because of its specific interaction with guanine
[78]. Using basal-plane pyrolytic graphite electrode,
through cyclic voltammetry, E. coli in urine samples was
measured, with a detection limit of 5  102 cells/mL [122].

diseases at specific disease states, are biomarkers for such

diseases or disease states [123]. For the biochemical analysis
of blood and other analytes, electrochemical sensors exhibited immense potential. The most successful example of
such sensors is the glucose sensors [124]. There are reports of
such sensing systems for a-synuclein, insulin [125 127],
myoglobin [125, 128], bombesin, neurotensin [129], hemoglobin [130 132], Cytochrome c [133, 134], etc. Human
serum albumin (HSA) was analyzed by potentiometric
stripping analysis through adsorbed anti-HSA IgG onto
thick-film carbon working electrode [33]. Our group has
reported the label-free detection of human telomerase
reverse transcriptase (hTERT) for cancer diagnosis by
adsorptive transfer differential pulse anodic stripping voltammetry using cell lysates prepared from urine samples
from adults [135]. We have also fabricated a label-free
electrochemical sensor (Fig. 7) for the specific detection of
total prostate-specific antigen (T-PSA), a cancer marker,
using microelectrode arrays modified with SWCNTs [46].
The oxidation signals of tyrosine (Tyr) and tryptophan (Trp)
residues were increased during their interaction with T-PSA
of T-PSA-mAb, which was immobilized covalently on
SWNTs. The specificity of the sensor was confirmed using
bovine serum albumin (BSA).
A novel and rapid label-free electrochemical sensor has
been reported by our group for voltammetric detection of
human chorionic gonadotropin hormone (hCG) the
pregnancy biomarker in urine [136]. It is a glycoprotein
produced by developing placenta shortly after the implantation of a fertilized egg into the uterine lining. The hCG
level is high (30 000 20 0000 mIU/mL) in the urine samples
of pregnant females, which makes its label-free detection
easier. After optimizing the coverage of CPE electrode
surface with the antibody and incubating for desired
duration with the target antigen, the LOD was 15 pM for
synthetic and 20 pM for real hCG samples. Recently, a rapid
label-free electrochemical detection of amyloid-b-peptides
related to AlzheimerKs disease has been reported by our
group [137]. The aggregation of the peptide and subsequent
conformational changes affect the degree of exposure of
tyrosine (Tyr) residue to the molecular surface of the
peptides, which resulted in the increase of Tyr oxidation
signal. Our results showed significant difference in the
aggregation process between the two peptides of amyloid b
(Ab-42), and this finding can be widely used to study
aggregation of other protein related to diseases like
HuntingtonKs and ParkinsonKs. Researchers from our group
have also reported gold nanoparticle-based electrochemical
detection of protein phosphorylation on DEP chip, which
can be applied in studying protein kinases related to cancer
and neurodegenerative diseases [43].

3.5. Drug Action Study

3.4. Diagnostic Application
Some electrochemically detectable proteins and peptides in
intra- and extracellular matrix, as released owing to certain
Electroanalysis 20, 2008, No. 6, 616 626

The potential of electrochemical biosensor in the field of

drug action analysis has been reported by Serrano et al. [138,
139]. For a better understanding of the electrochemical

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Fig. 7. A) Illustration of the experimental set-up with SWNT-modified Pt microelectrode as the working electrode, Pt wire as the
counter electrode, and miniaturized Ag/AgCl reference electrode with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of an SWNTmodified microelectrode. B) Illustration of the label-free electrochemical immunosensor design. Monoclonal antibodies against total
prostate-specific antigen (T-PSA-mAb) were covalently anchored onto the SWNTs using 1-pyrenebutanoic acid succinimidyl ester
(Linker). The peak current for the intrinsic oxidation of proteins, deriving from their electroactive amino acids, increases as the antigen
antibody complex is formed (from [46] with permission).

responses before and after the DNA-drug interaction, the

mechanism of the interactions should be better understood,
and such understanding may help quantification of drugs
and screening of novel drugs that better target and interact
with DNA or other biomolecules [87, 140]. Bagni et al. have
summarized this aspect of electrochemical sensors in an
excellent review [141].

4. Food Analytes
4.1. Microbial Adulteration of Food
Food adulteration by pathogenic bacteria such as Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium, Campylobacter jejuni,
Legionella pneumophila, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus
cereus, Streptococci, etc. causes numerous food borne
diseases, and are responsible for about 91% of all food
borne illnesses in the USA alone [142, 143]. The classical
four-stage method for microbial identification involves preenrichment, selective enrichment, isolation and identification and it requires 16 to 48 hours for completion with a
detection limit in the range of 105 to 106 cells/mL, whereas
electrochemical detection offers a far better detection limit
[144, 145]. The demand for a fast, reliable and sensitive
method for food analysis has paved the path for electrochemical biosensors for this field [146, 147]. In monitoring
food borne bacteria, PCR-gene probe based sensors has
very high potential [148], and there are reports of detection
of less than 40 cells per gram of food sample by this method
without enrichment step [149]. Kim et al. has used different
types of liposomal mediators for the electrochemical
detection and enumeration of hemolytic bacteria in the
range of 5  105 to 2  107 cfu mL 1 [150].
Electroanalysis 20, 2008, No. 6, 616 626

4.2. Food Freshness and Taste

Freshness of food is of utmost importance not only for the
consumers but also for food administrations, to ensure
public health. Winquist et al. reported successful electrochemical monitoring of freshness of milk by using a setup
consisting of five working electrodes made of gold, iridium,
palladium, platinum and rhodium [151]. They have also
reported a voltammetric sensor for following the aging
processes of milk and orange juice [27]. A freshness sensor
for detecting hypoxanthine in fish meat was reported by
Nakatani et al. with a LOD of 1.84  10 4 mol L 1 [152]. The
necessity for a low-cost, unbiased, high-throughput device
to replace human based assessment of foods and drinks led
to the development of taste and smell sensors [162]. Pioggia
et al. have reported impedance-based electrochemical sensors for five basic tastes, i.e. salty, sour, sweet, umami and
bitter tastes, at concentrations including the human perceptive range with a fairly good degree of discrimination [163].
Another group reported a voltammetric taste sensor
capable of differentiating samples like fruit juices, still
drinks and milk [27].

4.3. Food Ingredients

Food allergies, originating from food ingredients such as
natural components, additives and preservatives, are a
major health problem for many [153]. Knowing food
ingredients is necessary from the nutrition point of view as
well. Voltammetric determinations of three azo colorants,
tartrazine, sunset yellow and allura red, were reported on
polyallylamine modified tubular glassy carbon electrode
with a LOD of 1.8  10 6, 3.5  10 6 and 1.4  10 6 mol L 1,

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respectively [154]. Sensor for detection of vitamin C using

carbon electrode has been reported by Ly et al. [155]. Our
group has reported detection and semi-quantification of
bovine DNA in feedstuffs on DEP chip with an accuracy of
around 90 percent [156]. Basu et al. [161] have recently
reported an oxygen-electrode based biosensor for the
detection of total cholesterol in food samples. This sensorKs
LOD was 2 mg/dL for a range of samples including egg and
meat; it was reused for over 30 times.

4.4. GMO Content

While GMO is deemed to be an excellent tool for fighting
hunger, in many countries there are widespread suspicions
regarding health implications of GMO-based foods. Therefore, a device is necessary to detect GMO in food and
electrochemical sensors have emerged as viable candidates.
A good review on this issue has been published by Shehata
[157]. Electrochemical method for measurement of recombinant protein levels (Fig. 8) using transgenic avidin
maize as a model GMO, was reported by Masarik et al.
[158]. A disposable genosensor for GMO has been reported
by Meric et al. through detecting the nearly ubiquitous
genetic element of transgenic organisms - NOS-terminator
[159]. Mascini and Palchetti also reported electrochemical
detection of GMO [160]. Our group is currently working on
the development of a hand-held integrated sensor system
for this purpose.

5. Future Directions
Electrochemical detection of biomolecules has great impact
due to its high sensitivity, easier instrumentation, and
miniaturization potential for development into point-ofcare devices. It has so far been proven to be applicable to a
very wide range of analytes, among which our interest was on
medical and food analytes. The technology associated with
the electrochemical biosensors aiming at detection of microorganisms of importance to medical and food analysis are still
in their infancy in terms of getting translated into systems for
routine applications, though the immense market potential is
driving development towards that end. Still, we need to
develop analytical approaches and systems capable of differentiating among microbes in a multi-organism mix in real
foods or medical analytes, quantifying them quickly at low
cost with very high reproducibility, specificity and sensitivity,
necessarily below their infectious dosages. It is essential to
make highly-automated systems, to minimize the risk of
contamination and human error during handling of such
devices. In case of food analysis, the demand for more robust
systems, capable of detecting GM ingredients and allergens in
food, is becoming more widespread. At the same time, due to
cultural or religious beliefs and practices, there are some
people who want to avoid certain ingredients in food, for this
purpose there is a good demand for hand held devices, where
electrochemical gene sensors can play an important role. In
our group, we have started working towards this end as well.
For such devices, making them disposable through cost
reduction is another facet towards which considerable
research initiative is to be directed, and the DEP chips that
we have developed, are a very important achievement in this
pursuit. In the near future, hopefully, DEP chips will become
a standard component of electrochemical sensors, especially
those intended for food, medical and environmental analytes.
Use of FETalso assists the miniaturization of electrochemical
detection systems, and the use of materials like carbon
nanotubes (CNT), nanoparticles and quantum dots are
should be explored more extensively to enhance the functionality, sensitivity and applicability of electrochemical
sensors.

6. Acknowledgements
Fig. 8. Comparison of various methods for detection of avidin.
A) Coomassie blue-stained SDS-PAGE. B) Western blot stained
with affinity-purified polyclonal antibody raised against avidin. C)
Corresponding voltammetric (SWV) responses. Lanes: 1) molecular weight standards (kDa): myosin (205), b-galactosidase (119),
bovine serum albumin (98), ovalbumin (52.3), carbonic anhydrase
(36.8), soybean trypsin inhibitor (30.1), lysozyme (14), aprotinin
(7.6); 2) native streptavidin; 3) thermally denatured streptavidin
(99 8C, 30 min); 4) 10 mg of avidin-positive maize seed extract; 5)
10 mg of avidin-negative maize seed extract (negative control); 6)
10 mg of avidin-negative corn low-grade flour extract; 7) 10 mg of
avidin-negative corn grout extract; 8) 10 mg of avidin-negative
corn grits extract, and 9) 10 mg of avidin-negative corn farina
extract. (from [158] with permission).
Electroanalysis 20, 2008, No. 6, 616 626

Minhaz Uddin Ahmed and Mohammad Mosharraf Hossain

acknowledge Monbukagakusho scholarship for research
students from the Japan Ministry of Education, Culture,
Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT). We are grateful
to Dr. Miyuki Chikae and Dr. Ushijima Hiromi of Biodevice
Technology, Japan, for their support in preparing the
manuscript.

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