P0309 - Voltammetric determination of neurotransmitters as biochemical markers in psychiatric diseases

Abstract

In the medical field, the monitoring of the neurotransmitters in depressive patients represents a major demand focusing of course on the health state of the patients, with social and economical effects. The efficient control of the health state cannot be realized with the help of the traditional chemical and/or biochemical methods precise and selective, but expensive and laborious. Traditional methods for identification and detection and of neurotransmitters lack the speed and sensitivity to be of real usage since that they are not real time or even typically completed in a single day. One possible solution is represented by the use of the chemically modified electrodes. The compatibility with micro-fabrication technology and the low cost of these devices make them promising tool for the rapid and inexpensive detection on-line of neurotransmitters.

In the study of phthalocyanine (PhC) chemistry, an area of particular interest in recent years has been the formation and characterization of polymeric compounds in various forms and the use of these compounds to carry out well known PhC applications involving catalysis, analysis, etc. Metallophthalocyanine (MPhC) complexes catalyze the detection of neurotransmitters. The catalytic activity of ferophthalocyanine towards different neurotransmitters was compared with those of Co and NiMPhC complexes. The chemically modified electrodes have been tested for the capacity to electrochemically detect dopamine, epinephrine and serotonin (5-HT). Interference of ascorbic acid in the CP modified electrodes response was also investigated. Applications on real samples will be considered.