Disposable Nonenzymatic Uric Acid and Creatinine Sensors Using μPAD Coupled with Screen-Printed Reduced Graphene Oxide-Gold Nanocomposites

Abstract

Uric acid (UA) and creatinine are the imperative biological substance for clinical monitoring and diagnosis. Measuring the ratio between uric acid and creatinine in urine helps differentiate acute uric acid nephropathy from the hyperuricemia that secondarily occurs to renal failure. In general, the ratio is greater than 0.9 in acute uric acid nephropathy and less than 0.7 in hyperuricemia. In this work, disposable nonenzymatic screen-printed reduced graphene oxide-gold nanocomposites electrodes were firstly developed for the quantitative analysis of uric acid. Our sensors were also coupled with the paper-based colorimetric sensor of the determination of creatinine. Hence, an alternative high-throughput screening test for the uric acid to creatinine ratio with high sensitivity, specificity, simplicity, and rapidity was developed. Under the optimum conditions, our disposable nonenzymatic screen-printed electrode for the determination of uric acid shows the acceptable analytical performance in a wide range of linearity (2.5-1,000 μM) with a low detection limit of 0.74 μM. Our electrodes also showed no interference from common physiologic compound in urine. The determination of creatinine has been developed using Jaffé reaction between the creatinine and picric acid in alkaline condition. The alkaline picrate color on μPAD changed from yellow to orange in the presence of creatinine and the orange intensity is directly proportional to the creatinine amount in a linearity range of 0.20-6.0 mM as a detection limit of 180 μM. Finally, our device has been utilized to determine uric acid and creatinine simultaneously in control urine samples with acceptable result.