Development of a screen-printed carbon electrode based disposable enzyme sensor strip for the measurement of glycated albumin

Glycated proteins, such as glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) or glycated albumin (GA) in the blood, are essential indicators of glycemic control for diabetes mellitus. Since GA, compared to HbA1c, is more sensitive to short term changes in glycemic levels, GA is expected to be used as an alternative or together with HbA1c as a surrogate marker indicator for glycemic control. In this paper we report the development of a sensing system for measuring GA by combining an enzyme analysis method, which is already used in clinical practice, with electrochemical principles. We used fructosyl amino acid oxidase, hexaammineruthenium(III) chloride as the electron mediator, and an inexpensive and economically attractive screen-printed carbon electrode. We used chronoamperometry to measure protease-digested GA samples. The developed sensor strips were able to measure protease-digested samples containing GA in very small sample volumes (1.3 μL) within about 1 min. We also prepared enzyme sensor strips suitable for clinical use in which the enzyme and the mediator were deposited and dried on. This sensor system showed a clear correlation between the GA concentration and the resulting current. The strips were stable following 3 months of storage at 37 °C. We conclude that this disposable enzyme sensor strip system for measuring GA is suitable for point-of-care test (POCT) applications.