Towards clarifying the spatio-temporal neurotransmitter distribution, potentiometric redox sensor arrays with 23.5-µm resolution were fabricated. The sensor array based on a charge-transfer-type potentiometric sensor comprises 128×128 pixels with gold electrodes deposited on the surface of pixels. The sensor output corresponding to the interfacial potential of the electrode changed logarithmically with the mixture ratio of K3Fe(CN)6 and K4Fe(CN)6, where the redox sensitivity reached 49.9 mV/dec. By employing hydrogen peroxidase as an enzyme and ferrocene as an electron mediator, the sensing characteristics for hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) were investigated. The analyses of the sensing characteristics revealed that the sensitivity was about 44.7 mV/dec., comparable to the redox sensitivity, while the limit of detection (LOD) was achieved to be 1 µM. Furthermore, the oxidation state of the electron mediator can be the key to further lowering the LOD. Then, by immobilizing oxidizing enzyme for H2O2 and glutamate oxidase, glutamate (Glu) measurements were conducted. As a result, similar sensitivity and LOD to those of H2O2 were obtained. Finally, the real-time distribution of 1 µM Glu was visualized, demonstrating the feasibility of our device as a high-resolution bioimaging technique.
Keywords: H2O2; bioimaging; glutamate; potentiometry; redox sensor array.