The long term goal of this proposal is the development of biologically sensitive, selective and reliable electrochemical devices for the determination of metabolites of physiological relevance. At the research level, these devices can be used to study the relationship between periodic fluctuations of metabolites and the development of disorders in the human body. At the application level, the development of these devices can result in the decentralization of clinical laboratories by providing the physicians and ambulatory patients a fast, reliable, easy and low cost way of analyzing for metabolites. To achieve this goal it is necessary to understand the interfacial dynamics of electron transfer reactions of redox enzymes. What variables control the electron transfer reaction between a redox enzyme and an electrode surface? In the presence of redox mediators how fast is the electron transfer reaction between the enzyme and the mediator? What variables allow its control? We propose to continue our efforts toward the discovery of potentially useful redox mediators. We also propose to study the electron transfer reaction between these redox mediators and several redox enzymes. The enzymatic systems to be studied are oxidases such as lactate, choline and cholesterol and dehydrogenases such as malate and glycerol. Redox mediators to be tested are conductive polymers, organic metals and transition metal complexes. Electrochemical and spectroscopical techniques such as UV-Vis, Cyclic and Rotating Disk Voltammetry, Bulk Electrolysis and Spectro-electrochemistry will be used to study how variables such as pH, ionic strength, the concentration of the enzyme, cofactor, substrate and mediator and the presence of metal ions affect the kinetics and thermodynamics of these redox reactions.

Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
Budget End
Support Year
21
Fiscal Year
1992
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
San Juan
State
PR
Country
United States
Zip Code
00931
Ramírez-Camejo, Luis A; Maldonado-Morales, Génesis; Bayman, Paul (2017) Differential Microbial Diversity in Drosophila melanogaster: Are Fruit Flies Potential Vectors of Opportunistic Pathogens? Int J Microbiol 2017:8526385
Morales-Rivera, Keyla F; Piñero Cruz, Dalice M; Prieto, Jose A (2017) Crystal structure of (-)-(S)-4-[(2S,3S,4S,Z)-3-hydroxy-4-methyl-hept-5-en-2-yl]-1,3-dioxolan-2-one. Acta Crystallogr E Crystallogr Commun 73:1070-1072
García-Arriaga, Marilyn; Acosta-Santiago, Maxier; Cruz, Antony et al. (2017) Probing the Limits of Supramolecular G-Quadruplexes Using Atomistic Molecular Dynamics Simulations. Inorganica Chim Acta 468:209-222
Huang, Qing; Quiñones, Edwin (2016) A spectroscopic method to determine the activity of the restriction endonuclease EcoRV that involves a single reaction. Anal Biochem 497:103-5
Mège, Pascal; Schizas, Nikolaos V; Reyes, Joselyd García et al. (2015) Genetic seascape of the threatened Caribbean elkhorn coral, Acropora palmata, on the Puerto Rico Shelf. Mar Ecol (Berl) 36:195-209
Morales-Rivera, Amarilys; Hernández-Burgos, Mayté M; Martínez-Rivera, Arlene et al. (2014) Anxiolytic effects of oxytocin in cue-induced cocaine seeking behavior in rats. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 231:4145-55
Ramírez-Camejo, Luis A; Torres-Ocampo, Ana P; Agosto-Rivera, José L et al. (2014) An opportunistic human pathogen on the fly: strains of Aspergillus flavus vary in virulence in Drosophila melanogaster. Med Mycol 52:211-9
Martínez-Rivera, Arlene; Rodríguez-Borrero, Enrique; Matías-Alemán, María et al. (2013) Metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 within nucleus accumbens shell modulates environment-elicited cocaine conditioning expression. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 110:154-60
Galindo-Cardona, Alberto; Acevedo-Gonzalez, Jenny P; Rivera-Marchand, Bert et al. (2013) Genetic structure of the gentle Africanized honey bee population (gAHB) in Puerto Rico. BMC Genet 14:65
Santiago-Rodriguez, Tasha M; Rivera, Jessica I; Coradin, Mariel et al. (2013) Antibiotic-resistance and virulence genes in Enterococcus isolated from tropical recreational waters. J Water Health 11:387-96

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