Alternative Method for Chromatography Invented to Measure Medical Doses

Iranian researchers at the University of Kashan used carbon paste electrodes modified by gold nanoparticles to measure the atenolol medicine doses. This method can be an alternative for the complicated and expensive chromatography methods.

Atenolol is an effective drug for the treatment of blood pressure, angina pectoris and cardiac attacks and arrest. Excessive use of atenolol causes toxicity within the patient's body. Therefore, the determination of the dose of atenolol is of great importance in medical and clinical researches.

"Among the advantages of the electrode products in this research, mention can be made of its relatively low price in comparison with other electrodes, non-toxicity, ease of production, extensive potential range of application, low background flow, quick response, resistance against mechanical damage, perfect modifiability and sustainable surface," Mohsen Behpour, member of the Scientific Board of University of Kashan, told the Iran Nanotechnology Initiative Council.

"Those electrodes are used to determine atenolol in anti blood pressure tablets and biological liquids (urinate sample and blood serum)."

"In order to produce modified carbon paste electrodes, we first mixed some graphite powder with the colloidal solution of gold nanoparticles, and then dried it. Next, we added some paraffin oil to the mixture and loaded the obtained paste into polyethylene syringe. At the end, we made an electric connection to the paste by putting a copper wire inside the syringe," Dr Behpour said, elaborating on the procedure of the research.

Non-modified electrodes that were produced through this method have a much lower sensitivity.

"The results of this research can provide the laboratories with a simple and cost-effective method to be replaced with complicated and expensive chromatography methods," Behpour concluded.

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