A micro-pressure sensor-based analytic platform and its application in thrombin quantification

Abstract

Although great efforts have been devoted to the design of various kinds of biosensors in recent years, a universal sensor fabricated for daily usage with convenient operation is rare. In this study, based on the fact that hydrogen peroxide can be decomposed by catalase to produce oxygen, which can reinforce the pressure in a closed container, a commercially available micro-pressure sensor (MPS) with great sensitivity was employed to fabricate an analytic platform for detecting biomedical targets. Taking thrombin as the example, it induces the formation of a catalase-labelled complex, which can be separated and subsequently added to a closed container equipped with a MPS as the pressure monitor and data recorder. Experimental data show that the variation in the pressure recorded by the MPS has a close relationship with the amount of thrombin. The results indicate that biomedical targets can be quantitatively detected using this method without complicated operation, similar to personal glucose meters. Such an original model has great promise in the field of clinical assays once combined with biosensor technology.