Surface modification with highly-homogeneous porous silica layer for enzyme immobilization in capillary enzyme microreactors.

Immobilized enzyme micro-reactors (IMERs) are of vital importance in developing miniaturized bioanalytical systems and have promising applications in various biomanufacturing. An inherent limitation in designing IMERs is the one-dimensional cylindrical geometry of micro-channels that offers limited exposed surface area for molecular reorganization and enzyme immobilization. In this study, we report a robust capillary-IMER based on a three dimensional porous layer open tubular (3D-PLOT) column which is prepared by an easy-to-control surface modification strategy via single-step in situ biphasic reaction. The 3D-PLOT column with highly uniform porous geometry and narrow distribution of porosity can greatly enhance the surface-area-to-volume ratio of the micro-channels, showing the beneficial effects for enzyme immobilization to enhance reaction efficiency and shorten analysis time. Taking trypsin as a model enzyme, enzymatic activities of immobilized enzyme are analyzed. We compare enzyme assays using the proposed 3D-PLOT-IMER with those using normal capillary-IEMR without surface modification as well as free trypsin. The 3D-PLOT-IMER exhibits excellent stability and inter/intra-day reproducibility, and these characteristics imply the reliability of the proposed IMERs for accurate enzyme assay. The feasibility of the proposed method for potential application in biological analysis is demonstrated by coupling the 3D-PLOT-IMER with a nano-LC-MS/MS system for online digestion of standard proteins, cell extraction and living Hela cells. Our study show that the surface modification with the proposed 3D-porous layer is a simple and efficient approach for enzyme immobilization, and could be widely suitable for different kinds of IMERs.

Determination of the inhibitory effect of green tea extract on glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase based on multilayer capillary enzyme microreactor.

Natural herbal medicines are an important source of enzyme inhibitors for the discovery of new drugs. A number of natural extracts such as green tea have been used in prevention and treatment of diseases due to their low-cost, low toxicity and good performance. The present study reports an online assay of the activity and inhibition of the green tea extract of the Glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH) enzyme using multilayer capillary electrophoresis based immobilized enzyme microreactors (CE-IMERs). The multilayer CE-IMERs were produced with layer-by-layer electrostatic assembly, which can easily enhance the enzyme loading capacity of the microreactor. The activity of the G6PDH enzyme was determined and the enzyme inhibition by the inhibitors from green tea extract was investigated using online assay of the multilayer CE-IMERs. The Michaelis constant (Km ) of the enzyme, the IC50 and Ki values of the inhibitors were achieved and found to agree with those obtained using offline assays. The results show a competitive inhibition of green tea extract on the G6PDH enzyme. The present study provides an efficient and easy-to-operate approach for determining G6PDH enzyme reaction and the inhibition of green tea extract, which may be beneficial in research and the development of natural herbal medicines. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Sequential capillary electrophoresis analysis using optically gated sample injection and UV/vis detection.

We present sequential CE analysis of amino acids and L-asparaginase-catalyzed enzyme reaction, by combing the on-line derivatization, optically gated (OG) injection and commercial-available UV-Vis detection. Various experimental conditions for sequential OG-UV/vis CE analysis were investigated and optimized by analyzing a standard mixture of amino acids. High reproducibility of the sequential CE analysis was demonstrated with RSD values (n = 20) of 2.23, 2.57, and 0.70% for peak heights, peak areas, and migration times, respectively, and the LOD of 5.0 µM (for asparagine) and 2.0 µM (for aspartic acid) were obtained. With the application of the OG-UV/vis CE analysis, sequential online CE enzyme assay of L-asparaginase-catalyzed enzyme reaction was carried out by automatically and continuously monitoring the substrate consumption and the product formation every 12 s from the beginning to the end of the reaction. The Michaelis constants for the reaction were obtained and were found to be in good agreement with the results of traditional off-line enzyme assays. The study demonstrated the feasibility and reliability of integrating the OG injection with UV/vis detection for sequential online CE analysis, which could be of potential value for online monitoring various chemical reaction and bioprocesses.

Application of capillary enzyme micro-reactor in enzyme activity and inhibitors studies of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase.

In this study, we present an on-line measurement of enzyme activity and inhibition of Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH) enzyme using capillary electrophoresis based immobilized enzyme micro-reactor (CE-based IMER). The IMER was prepared using a two-step protocol based on electrostatic assembly. The micro-reactor exhibited good stability and reproducibility for on-line assay of G6PDH enzyme. Both the activity as well as the inhibition of the G6PDH enzyme by six inhibitors, including three metals (Cu(2+), Pb(2+), Cd(2+)), vancomycin, urea and KMnO4, were investigated using on-line assay of the CE-based IMERs. The enzyme activity and inhibition kinetic constants were measured using the IMERs which were found to be consistent with those using traditional off-line enzyme assays. The kinetic mechanism of each inhibitor was also determined. The present study demonstrates the feasibility of using CE-based IMERs for rapid and efficient on-line assay of G6PDH, an important enzyme in the pentosephosphate pathway of human metabolism.