Gold nanoparticles modified indium tin oxide electrode for the simultaneous determination of dopamine and serotonin: Application in pharmaceutical formulations and biological fluids

A new rapid, convenient and sensitive electrochemical method based on a gold nanoparticles modified ITO (Au/ITO) electrode is described for the detection of dopamine and serotonin in the presence of a high concentration of ascorbic acid. The electrocatalytic response was evaluated by differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) and the modified electrode exhibited good electrocatalytic properties towards dopamine and serotonin oxidation with a peak potential of 70 mV and 240 mV lower than that at the bare ITO electrode, respectively. The selective sensing of dopamine is further improved by applying square wave voltammetry (SWV) which leads to the lowering of its detection limit. A similar effect on the detection limit of serotonin was observed on using SWV. Linear calibration curves are obtained in the range 1.0 × 10−9–5.0 × 10−4 M and 1.0 × 10−8–2.5 × 10−4 M with a detection limit of 0.5 nM and 3.0 nM for dopamine and serotonin, respectively. The Au/ITO electrode efficiently determines both the biomolecules simultaneously, even in the presence of a large excess of ascorbic acid. The adequacy of the developed method was evaluated by applying it to the determination of the content of dopamine in dopamine hydrochloride injections. The proposed procedure was also successfully applied to simultaneously detect dopamine and serotonin in human serum and urine.