Enhancing the biocompatibility of Sodium Membrane Electrodes by Using Chitosan-CuO and Chitosan-CuO-Heparin Composite Membranes

We investigate the effect of introducing chitosan CuO-nanoparticle and heparin loading chitosan CuO nanoparticle composite membranes to PVC based sodium selective membrane electrode to enhance its biocompatibility and reduce its highly thrombogenicity. The potentiometric responses of three sets of electrodes were studied: (1) conventional PVC membrane electrode, (2) conventional PVC membrane electrode sandwiched with chitosan-CuO membrane (CH-CuO-PVC), and (3) conventional PVC membrane electrode sandwiched with chitosan-CuO-heparin membrane (CH-CuO-H-PVC).  Potentiometric response characteristics of the CH-CuO-PVC and CH-CuO-H-PVC membrane electrodes (e.g., detection limit, linear range, response slope, and selectivity coefficients) were found to be comparable to that of the conventional PVC-based sodium electrodes. Biocompatibility was assessed for all membranes (PVC and CH-CuO-PVC and CH-CuO-H-PVC) through platelet adhesion protocol. SEM and platelet counts have shown that CH-CuO and CH-CuO-H have improved biocompatibility compared to the classical PVC membranes.