Origin of Low Detection Limit and High Selectivity of Roche Accu‐Chek Test Strips that Enables Measurement of Tear Glucose Levels

Abstract

Tear glucose measurements have been suggested as a potential alternative to blood glucose monitoring for diabetic patients. While previous work has reported a correlation between blood and tear glucose levels in humans, this link has not been thoroughly established and additional clinical studies are needed. We recently reported that Roche’s electrochemical Accu‐Chek blood glucose test strips exhibit far superior analytical performance over other commercial brands, with the low detection limit and high selectivity required for quantitating tear glucose levels. Herein, we evaluate the origin of the high sensitivity and selectivity of the Roche test strips and show that the use of pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ)‐dependent glucose dehydrogenase (GDH) as an active enzyme reagent in combination with a nitrosoaniline derivative as an electron transfer mediator are primarily responsible for the low limit of quantification (LOQ) (ca. 9 µM) and enhanced selectivity achieved with these strips.