Résumé:
The careful use of drug doses administered in therapeutic or surgical environments is essential since even minor variations may have catastrophic health implications. Some drugs can cause permanent damage to organs through overdose, which may necessitate transplantation or compromise the functions of vital physiological systems. Paracetamol is a notable example of an analgesic and antipyretic drug, as its misuse or overdose may lead to acute liver toxicity as well as renal damage. Simultaneously, a sensitive monitoring of some physiological parameters is needed, as their non-pathological levels are generally in accordance with the pathogenesis or development of disease. Fluctuations in brain dopamine are directly implicated in neurodegenerative illnesses like Parkinson's disease and schizophrenia. Clinically relevant evaluation, drug management with therapeutic intervention, and proactive health care thus demand accurate and reproducible quantitation of these bioactive molecules.
A selective and simple electrochemical technique was created for the simultaneous analysis of paracetamol (PA) and dopamine (DA). The technique utilized a commercially available screen printed electrode (SPE), that was electrochemically activated in 1.0 M H2SO4 via cyclic voltammetry and modified with ruthenium nanoparticles. Electrochemical behavior before and after modification was investigated using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and cyclic voltammetry (CV).. The findings indicate that both electrochemical activation and ruthenium nanoparticle electrodeposition enhance the conductivity and surface area of the screen-printed electrode. The structural and interfacial properties of the nanocomposite were also examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and atomic force microscopy (AFM).
The detection of both dopamine and paracetamol was assessed through cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and square wave voltammetry (SWV). Under optimized conditions, it was found that the developed sensor was able to detect dopamine and paracetamol efficiently through the three methods. In the case of single analyte detection, SWV and EIS showed better performance, with SWV presenting the best sensitivity (1.93 and 1.06 μA mM-1 cm-2) and lowest detection limits (0.11 μM for DA and 0.17 μM for PA). However, CV was found to be better for simultaneous detection as it presented wider linear ranges (1.0–300 μM for DA and 1.0–400 μM for PA). Moreover, the RuNPs/ASPE sensor also exhibited good repeatability, reproducibility, stability, and selectivity. The sensor was successfully utilized for PA and DA determination in pharmaceutical preparations and human blood serum samples with good recovery percentages.
