Miniaturized flexible amperometric lactate probe.

A flexible lactate electrode was made of 400 +/- 100 7-micron-diameter carbon fibers, epoxy embedded in a 0.3-mm-diameter polyimide tubing. The electrode was modified by precipitating on it the relatively insoluble complex formed between 1100 kDa partially N-ethylamine quaternized poly[(vinylpyridine)-Os(bipyridine)2Cl]Cl (POs-EA) and lactate oxidase. The steady-state lactate electrooxidation current, at 2 mM lactate concentration and at 22 degrees C, was 400 nA. The 50 +/- 10 microAc cm-2 current density and the 20 mA cm-2 M-1 sensitivity decreased only by 5% when the partial pressure of oxygen was increased from 0.0 to 0.2 atm. The electrode retains its sensitivity after dry storage at 4 degrees C for 4 months in air but loses half of its sensitivity in 7 h at 37 degrees C through polymer desorption when operated at 0.4 V (SCE). To eliminate interference by species that are electrooxidized at 0.4 V (SCE), the lactate-sensing probe was (a) electrically insulated with an epoxy made of poly(vinylimidazole) cross-linked with ethylene glycol diglycidyl ether and (b) coated with an immobilized horseradish peroxidase (HRP)/glucose oxidase (GOX) film. The latter film was formed by coimmobilizing the two enzymes through periodate oxidation of their oligosaccharides to aldehydes and forming Schiff bases between the polyaldehydes and the enzymes' lysyl amines. In the presence of 1 mM glucose and in air, the interfering electrooxidation of 0.1 mM ascorbate was reduced by a factor of 20. This reduction results from formation of hydrogen peroxide in the glucose-catalyzed reaction and H2O2 oxidation of the ascorbate in a reaction catalyzed by HRP.