Nitric oxide (NO), in concentrations between 0 and 20 ppm, is currently being used as an inhaled agent to treat patients with post surgical complications and respiratory disorders. Because excessive levels of NO can be detrimental to the patient, NO must be monitored accurately and continuously. Currently available instruments have problems that limit their usefulness for this application. This paper discusses the development of an inexpensive, direct and continuous sensor for the measurement of inhaled nitric oxide. The sensor incorporates a 0.05 inch, gas permeable, flow-through liquid cell into a probe, which can be incorporated into a ventilator circuit. Sensor operation is based on the complexation reaction of NO with cytochrome-c, a biologically derived heme. The complex is monitored spectrophotometrically by measuring the absorbance in the visible region of the spectrum at 563 nm. The sensor is specific to NO in the presence of oxygen. This paper will address experiments to optimize sensitivity of the sensor. Increasing the flow rate and pressure of NO into the sensing chamber increased the optical absorbance at a high concentration of NO. Increasing the concentration of cytochrome-c increased the sensitivity of the sensor. The sensor is currently sensitive to a minimum concentration of 5 ppm and linear in the range of 5 to 175 ppm.
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