An Overview on Electrochemical Determination of Cholesterol

Cholesterol detection is of great significance in biomedical applications because it is a crucial biomarker for some diseases. It is the precursor of different biological compounds such as vitamin D, hormones, and bile acid, etc. The cholesterol level in blood correlated to various diseases such as hypolipoproteinaemia, septicaemia, malnutrition hypertension, anaemia, brain thrombosis and arteriosclerosis for instance its levels in the blood of more than 200 mg/dL, increase the risk of heart disease. It is also found in foods from animal origin such as milk, meat, cheese, egg and seafood. With respect to dietary reference value for cholesterol intake, most of food safety authorities recommended maximum intake 300 mg per day for adults. Consequently, cholesterol is considered as a critical indicator of clinical biochemistry and so introducing new techniques for determination of it in biological samples and food is important. In this review, Principles, methods and recent developments in electrochemical cholesterol sensors are reviewed. Special attention is given to the discussion on some problems and bottlenecks in areas of enzymatic cholesterol sensing and new advances in non-enzymatic sensors.