[Microelectrodes and their application in diagnostic medicine].

Microelectrodes are in common use in medical detection systems. The binding of two complementary nucleic acid sequences is called hybridization. Today the major obstacle of large-scale hybridization approaches is the large time-dependency of a single reaction, which is up to 16 hours. As the DNA molecules can be electronically charged, the binding could be facilitated and confirmed using an electronic control system. The authors' team aimed to develop a microelectrode system capable for the detection and control of hybridization. A microelectrode head is immersed in small liquid drop. Here, the platinum counterelectrode is surrounded by a non-conducting quartz capillary. The reference electrode is chloridized silver immersed in saturated Ag/Cl dilution. The Ag/AgCl/1 M KCl +AgCl microelectrode in stabilized against the calomel electrode in the first hours, and remains stable between 7th and 30th hours. This can be verified by the minimal drop in the potential difference. Thus the AgCl saturated KCl electrode is usable for several days for actual measurements. The detector is controlled by an attached computer. The system can be used to detect hybridization in a micro-cell located on a gold-plate. The electrode can be dismounted and reused after repeated chloridization of the Ag wire. The microelectrode is simple, cheap; thus is best suited for application in future automated diagnostic detection systems.