Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)The use of an amperometric biosensor for rapid salicylate determination in blood is described. Photolitography was used to make gold electrodes on a polyester film. The plastic microcell was characterized using cyclic voltammetry to demonstrate the electrochemical performance of the system. The biosensor was constructed by immobilizing salicylate hydroxylase onto the working electrode of the plastic electrochemical microcell. The optimized working conditions were 0.1 mol L(-1) phosphate buffer at pH 7.6 with 0.5 mmol L(-1) of NADH and 300 mV vs. Au as the applied potential. The resulting biosensor exhibited a high sensitivity (97.4 nA/mmol L(-1) salicylate) and an adequate linear response range (1.2 x 10(-4) to 1.0 x 10(-3) mol(-1)). The biosensor performance was verified by determining salicylate in spiked blood samples and the results were statistically equivalent to the values obtained from the standard Trinder spectrophotometric method, with a 95% confidence level. This study shows the potential development of a portable, inexpensive and disposable device for point-of-care monitoring. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.251022002204Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)