Simultaneous electrochemical detection of tramadol and O-desmethyltramadol with Nafion-coated tetrahedral amorphous carbon electrode. (1st February 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Mynttinen, Elsi; Wester, Niklas; Lilius, Tuomas; Kalso, Eija; Koskinen, Jari; Laurila, Tomi
• Is Part Of: Electrochimica acta. Volume 295(2019)
• Page Start: 347
• Page End: 353
• Publication Date: 2019-02-01
• Subjects: Tetrahedral amorphous carbon -- Nafion -- Tramadol -- O-desmethyltramadol -- Electrochemical sensor; Electrochemistry -- Periodicals; Electrochemistry, Industrial -- Periodicals; 541.37
• DOI: 10.1016/j.electacta.2018.10.148
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0013-4686

Abstract

Abstract: Tramadol (TR) is a member of the opioid family and is widely used for pain treatment in clinical patient care. The analgesic effect of tramadol is induced primarily by its main metabolite O-desmethyltramadol (ODMT). Due to inter-individual differences in the TR metabolism to ODMT, the responses to TR vary highly between patients. Thus, a fast and selective method for simultaneous detection of TR and ODMT would increase the patient safety and pain treatment efficacy. In this study, a tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C) electrode coated with a thin dip-coated recast Nafion membrane was fabricated for selective electrochemical determination of TR and ODMT. With this Nafion/ta-C electrode, simultaneous detection of TR and ODMT was achieved with linear ranges of 1–12.5 μM and 1–15 μM, respectively. The limits of detection were 131 nM for TR and 209 nM for ODMT. Both analytes were also measured in the presence of several common interferents, demonstrating the high selectivity of the fabricated electrode. In addition, the effect of pH on the peak potential was studied to observe the electrochemical behavior of the analytes at the electrode. Finally, clinically relevant concentrations of TR and ODMT were simultaneously detected from diluted human plasma to assess the applicability of the electrode in real samples. The fabricated Nafion/ta-C electrode was found successful in the simultaneous electrochemical detection of TR and ODMT in both buffer solution and in human plasma. Graphical abstract: Image 1 Highlights: Electrochemical sensor for simultaneous detection of tramadol and its metabolite was prepared. Tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C) was used as the electrode material. A thin Nafion membrane was introduced to filter out interferents. The electrode was applied for detection of both analytes in human plasma.