A new tool for imaging both scalar transport and velocity fields in liquid flows through microscale structures is described. The technique employs an ultraviolet laser pulse to write a pattern into the flow by uncaging a fluorescent dye. This is followed, at selected time delays, by flood illumination with a pulse of visible light which excites the uncaged dye. The resulting fluorescence image is collected onto a sensitive CCD camera. The instrument is designed as an oil immersion microscope to minimize beam steering effects. The caged fluorescent dye is seeded in trace quantities throughout the active fluid, thus images with high contrast and minimal distortion due to any molecular diffusion history can be obtained at any point within the microchannel by selectively activating the dye in the immediate region of interest. We report images of pressure- and electrokinetically driven steady flow within round cross section capillaries having micrometer scale inner diameters. We also demonstrate the ability to recover the velocity profile from a time sequence of these scalar images by direct inversion of the conserved scalar advection-convection equation.

Amperometric sensors have been developed for hydrogen peroxide, choline, and acetylcholine by immobilization of horseradish peroxidase, (HRP), choline oxidase, and acetylcholinesterase in a cross-linked redox polymer deposited on glassy carbon electrodes. Peroxide sensors, prepared by immobilization of HRP alone, gave detection limits of 10 nM and a linear response up to ca. 1 mM. Coimmobilization of HRP and glucose oxidase was used to establish the feasibility of highly efficient bienzyme sensors at low substrate levels. Replacing glucose oxidase with choline oxidase produced sensors with submicromolar detection limits and a linear response up to 0.8 mM. Addition of acetylcholinesterase to the sensors generated a relatively small response to acetylcholine that demonstrates the feasibility of trienzyme sensors. At low substrate concentrations, no loss in sensitivity during a 1-day experiment was observed. The response times of these sensors are all less than 30 s with 2-s response times achieved in some cases.

No abstract

Amperometric microsensors for the detection of choline in the extracellular fluid of brain tissue have been prepared by immobilizing horseradish peroxidase and choline oxidase onto carbon fiber microcylinder electrodes with a cross-linkable redox polymer. The microcylinders have diameters of 7 or 10 microns and lengths of 200-400 microns. To detect choline, the microsensors are operated at an applied potential of -0.1 V vs SCE. At this potential, ascorbate and other easily oxidizable interferant molecules present in brain tissue are not detected by the electrode. Ascorbate, however, can interfere with the response to choline by acting as a reducing agent in the enzyme-containing polymer film. So, a Nafion overlayer is required in order to reliably detect choline in the presence of physiologically relevant concentrations of ascorbate (approximately 200 microM). The Nafion-coated microsensors have a detection limit of approximately 5 microM choline and give a linear response beyond 100 microM when calibrated in vitro at 37 degrees C. Exposure of the microsensors to brain tissue for several hours causes less than a 10% loss in redox polymer surface coverage and less than a 25% loss in sensitivity to choline. To assess the ability of the microsensors to monitor choline levels in brain tissue, small volumes of a choline solution were injected into brain tissue at a site about 1 mm away from a microsensor. The current arising at the microsensor was converted to choline concentration by calibrating the sensor following the in vivo experiment. The resultant choline concentrations were in excellent agreement with those predicted by appropriate diffusion equations.

No abstract