Simultaneous Detection of Biomarkers in Urine Using a Multicalibration Potentiometric Sensing Array Combined with a Portable Analyzer

Abstract

Domestic monitoring devices make real-time and long-term health monitoring possible, allowing people to track their health status regularly. Uric acid (UA), creatinine, and urea in urine are three important biomarkers for various diseases, especially kidney diseases. This work proposed a 10-channel potentiometric sensing array containing a UA electrode group, a creatinine electrode group, a urea electrode group, a pH electrode group, and one pair of reference channels, which could be connected with a portable potentiometric analyzer, realizing the simultaneous detection of UA, creatinine, urea, and pH in urine. The prepared Pt/carbon nanotubes (CNTs)-uricase, creatinine deiminase, Au@urease, and polyaniline were employed as the sensing materials, showing responses to four targets with high sensitivity and selectivity. To improve the accuracy of domestic monitoring, a calibration channel was integrated into each electrode group to calibrate the basic potential of the sensing channels, and the influences of pH and temperature on the responses were investigated through the pH electrode group and an external temperature probe to calibrate the slope and intercept. With the preset of the deduced calibration parameters and computational formula for the four targets in the analyzer in Lab Mode, the concentrations of UA, creatinine, and urea and the pH of the human urine samples were directly displayed on the screen of the analyzer in Practical Mode. The agreement of these results with those obtained from commercial kits and pH meters reveals the high potential of these methods for developing domestic devices to facilitate health monitoring.