3D-printed electrochemical pestle and mortar for identification of falsified pharmaceutical tablets
3D-printed electrochemical pestle and mortar for identification of falsified pharmaceutical tablets
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3D 打印电化学杵和研钵用于识别伪造药片
作者：
R. Shergill;Anna Farlow;F. Perez;B. Patel
假药和保健补充剂对公众健康构成重大风险，因此及早识别至关重要。尽管迄今为止已经使用了许多分析方法，但这些方法是有限的，因为它们需要广泛的样品准备，是半定量的，和/或低收入和中等收入国家无法获得。因此，我们首次报道了一种简单的全分析系统，该系统可以快速准确地检测假药和保健品。我们用商用3D打印机制作了聚乳酸(PLA)研钵和研钵，然后在研钵的底部用3D打印笔制作了炭黑/聚乳酸(CB/PLA)电极，制成了电化学电池。研钵和研钵能够将药片粉碎和研磨成细粉，浓度与标准的实验室研钵和研钵相同。通过使用褪黑素片剂来表征该设备，3D打印的捣碎器和研钵能够在存在不溶辅料的情况下检测褪黑素的浓度。该方法的线性范围为37.5~300微克/毫升，检出限为7微克/毫升。电化学处理能够再生CB/PLA工作电极，允许重复使用该装置。在一项盲法研究中，该设备能够准确地检测出伪造的褪黑素片，回收率在101%到105%之间。这与高效液相色谱法的测量结果相当。总体而言，这些发现突显了我们的3D打印电化学研钵是一种可访问的有效全面分析系统，能够识别偏远地区的假药和保健补充剂。
Falsified medicines and healthcare supplements provide a major risk to public health and thus early identification is critical. Although a host of analytical approaches have been used to date, they are limited, as they require extensive sample preparation, are semi-quantitative and/or are inaccessible to low- and middle-income countries. Therefore, for the first time, we report a simple total analysis system which can rapidly and accurately detect falsified medicines and healthcare supplements. We fabricated a poly-lactic acid (PLA) pestle and mortar and using a commercial 3D printer, then made carbon black/PLA (CB/PLA) electrodes in the base of the mortar using a 3D printing pen to make an electrochemical cell. The pestle and mortar were able to crush and grind the tablets into a fine powder to the same consistency as a standard laboratory pestle and mortar. Using melatonin tablets to characterise the device, the 3D-printed pestle and mortar was able to detect the concentration of melatonin in the presence of insoluble excipients. The calibration plot showed a linear response from 37.5 to 300 µg/mL, where the limit of detection was 7 µg/mL. Electrochemical treatment was able to regenerate the CB/PLA working electrode allowing for repeated use of the device. In a blinded study, the device was able to accurately determine falsified melatonin tablets with recovery percentages between 101% and 105%. This was comparable to HPLC measurements. Overall, these findings highlight that our 3D-printed electrochemical pestle and mortar is an accessible and effective total analysis system that can have the ability to identify falsified medicines and healthcare supplements in remote locations.