Abstract

3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) was electro-polymerized by potentiodynamic (scan potential range between -1.0 and 1.5 V vs SCE) and potentiostatic method (potential step of 1.4 V during 5 min) on stainless steel AISI 316 (SS) electrodes, using lithium perchlorate as support electrolyte in acetonitrile, to obtain the modified electrode SS vertical bar PEDOT, to exploit it n-doping/undoping propertie to remove mercury, as has been reported elsewhere. In this particular case, the objective of the study is to verify whether the removal of mercury allows decreasing Hg(II) toxicity on cytosolic GSH-S transferases from rat liver. The electrochemical responses were recorded in aqueous solution of phosphate buffer at physiological pH (PBS) containing mercury(II) diacetate, and/or enzyme with its substrates, as appropriate, to verify the effect of Hg2+ cations extraction using the method previously reported, which is based on the SS| PEDOT n-doping/undoping property. The results are very promising, because on the one hand shows that PEDOT does not affect the enzymatic activity of cGST from rat liver, which is very relevant when considering a possible application of this methodology in biological systems affected by mercury. By the other hand, it was shown that the method also allows reverse the inhibition of the enzyme produced by mercury, opening the door for future procedures aimed not only at removing mercury from biological systems, but also recover the biological properties of the proteins affected by this metal, using this type of modified electrodes, which are a simple and inexpensive alternative, as with all electrochemical techniques.