Electrochemical oxidation of DNA can occur at each of the four bases and gu
anine is the one that can suffer the easiest oxidative damage. The occurren
ce of the guanine oxidation product, 8-oxoguanine, as a consequence of DNA
damage caused by DNA oxidation causes important mutagenic lesions and hence
it is very important to develop reliable methods for its quantification. E
lectrochemical study of the mechanism of oxidation of 8-oxoguanine on glass
y carbon shows that it is a reversible electrode process, pH dependent, and
involves several reaction products. Electroanalytical determinations of 8-
oxoguanine were carried out and the detection limit was 8 x 10(-7) M.