Increase of reaction rate and sensitivity of low-abundance enzyme assay using micro/nanofluidic preconcentration chip

Anal Chem. 2008 May 1;80(9):3198-204. doi: 10.1021/ac800362e. Epub 2008 Mar 22.

Abstract

We report a novel method of increasing both the reaction rate and the sensitivity of low-abundance enzyme assay using a micro/nanofluidic preconcentration chip. The disposable preconcentration device made out of PDMS with a surface-patterned ion-selective membrane increases local enzyme/substrate concentrations for rapid monitoring of enzyme activity. As a model system, we used trypsin as the enzyme and BODIPY FL casein as the fluorogenic substrate. We demonstrated that the reaction rate of trypsin-BODIPY FL was significantly enhanced by increasing the local concentrations of both trypsin and BODIPY FL casein in the preconcentration chip. The reaction time required to turn over substrates at 1 ng/mL was only approximately 10 min compared to approximately 1 h without preconcentration, which demonstrates a significantly higher reaction rate through the increase of the concentrations of both the enzyme and substrate. Furthermore, trypsin activity can be measured down to a concentration level of 10 pg/mL, which is a approximately 100 fold enhancement in sensitivity compared to the result without the preconcentration step. This micro/nanofluidic preconcentrator chip could be used as a generic micro reaction platform to study any enzyme-substrate systems, or other biochemical reaction systems in low concentration ranges.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Boron Compounds / chemistry
  • Caseins / chemistry
  • Dimethylpolysiloxanes / chemistry
  • Kinetics
  • Microchip Analytical Procedures / methods*
  • Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / instrumentation
  • Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / methods*
  • Nanotechnology / instrumentation
  • Nanotechnology / methods*
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Spectrometry, Fluorescence
  • Trypsin / chemistry*

Substances

  • 4,4-difluoro-4-bora-3a,4a-diaza-s-indacene
  • Boron Compounds
  • Caseins
  • Dimethylpolysiloxanes
  • Trypsin