Direct In Vivo Electrochemical Detection of Haemoglobin in Red Blood Cells

Abstract

The electrochemical behavior of iron ion in haemoglobin provides insight to the chemical activity in the red blood cell which is important in the field of hematology. Herein, the detection of haemoglobin in human red blood cells on glassy carbon electrode (GC) was demonstrated. Red blood cells or raw blood cells was immobilized on a glassy carbon electrode surface with Nafion films employed to sandwich the layer of biological sample firmly on the electrode surface. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) analyses revealed a well-defined reduction peak for haemoglobin at about −0.30 V (vs. Ag/AgCl) at the red blood cell (GC-Nf-RBC-3Nf) and blood (GC-Nf-B-3Nf) film modified GCE in a pH 3.5 phosphate buffer solution. We further demonstrated that the complex biological conditions of a human red blood cell displayed no interference with the detection of haemoglobin. Such findings shall have an implication on the possibilities of studying the electrochemical behaviour of haemoglobin directly from human blood, for various scientific and clinical purposes.