Direct measurement of Nitric Oxide activity in biological systems

ESA Biosciences Inc. has announced a new data sheet describing the use and advantages that its BioStat™ System brings to direct real-time measurement of nitric oxide (NO) in biological systems.

The BioStat™ System is a state-of-the-art, digital signal processor-based, multi-mode potentiostat that uses flexible small electrodes that make direct real-time measurement of nitric oxide practical. With the BioStat™ System you can measure nitric oxide concentrations at biologically relevant levels with a choice of sensors.

Nitric oxide is an important signalling molecule that acts in many cell types to regulate a diverse range of physiological processes. A short-lived molecule with a half-life of only a few seconds, nitric oxide has been shown to play a role in neurotransmission, immune defence, apoptosis and blood vessel contractility.

Because of its short biological lifetime, traditional analytical approaches to measure NO are not practical. Indirect measurements such as nitrate and nitrite lack temporal resolution, sensitivity and specificity. The use of trapping molecules suffers many of the same problems. It is now generally accepted that polarographic electrochemical (amperometric) detection of nitric oxide using NO-specific electrodes is the most reliable and sensitive technique available. Furthermore, it provides the only method for direct, real-time measurement of NO activity at a target biological site.

The BioStat™ is a state-of-the-art multi-channel electrochemical system designed for use with a wide range of commercial electrochemical sensors and electrodes. It allows precise amperometric or voltammetric measurements to be made independently on up to four channels. The system can handle signals of either polarity from virtually any electrochemical sensor employing either 2 or 3 electrode configurations. The flexible BioStat System can utilise virtually any electrochemical sensor or electrode.

Designed to provide leading-edge performance the BioStat System delivers a dynamic range of 100,000:1 in the input data, with accuracies of 0.1% in amperometric and potentiometric modes. Temperature measurement accuracy is 0.1°C up to 100°C. Baseline noise is one millionth of the measurement range selected, and real-time digital filtering under user-control provides effective reduction of any data input artefacts.

Measurements on the BioStat may be displayed in Volts, Amps and other preset units (e.g. pH, M, ppm, °C, etc). The operating software processes the data for real-time graphical display and analysis on the user's PC or Notebook via a standard USB port. The software menu is based on standard Windows® format, so that all the control features are instantly recognisable to anyone who has used Windows.