Review—Catalytic Electrochemical Biosensors for Dopamine: Design, Performance, and Healthcare Applications

Abstract

Dopamine is an essential neurotransmitter for daily cognitive functions controlling many neurophysiological processes including memory, cognition, and physical control. Development of analytical methods and sensors to detect dopamine is important for health monitoring and neurological research. This review provides an overview of recent advances in the development of electrochemical catalytic biosensors based on enzyme and enzyme-mimetic materials and discusses their potential applications for measurements of dopamine in biological fluids. The first part of the review summarizes and critically assesses the different types of enzymes and enzyme mimetic materials that can be used to catalytically convert dopamine, followed by a discussion of the biosensor’s fabrication, key design parameters, and detection mechanism on various electrode platforms ranging from single-use screen-printed electrodes to microneedles and implantable microelectrodes. The second part provides examples of measurements of dopamine in biological samples, including saliva, urine, serum, cell cultures, and brain tissue. We conclude with a summary of advantages and limitations of these devices in the clinical field, and an outlook to future research towards the implementation and broader adoption of electrochemical biosensors in neurophysiology, pharmacology, and the clinical field.