Off-line form of the Michaelis–Menten equation for studying the reaction kinetics in a polymer microchip integrated with enzyme microreactor

Abstract

We firstly transformed the traditional Michaelis–Menten equation into an off-line form which can be used for evaluating the Michaelis–Menten constant after the enzymatic reaction. For experimental estimation of the kinetics of enzymatic reactions, we have developed a facile and effective method by integrating an enzyme microreactor into direct-printing polymer microchips. Strong nonspecific adsorption of proteins was utilized to effectively immobilize enzymes onto the microchannel wall, forming the integrated on-column enzyme microreactor in a microchip. The properties of the integrated enzyme microreactor were evaluated by using the enzymatic reaction of glucose oxidase (GOx) with its substrate glucose as a model system. The reaction product, hydrogen peroxide, was electrochemically (EC) analyzed using a Pt microelectrode. The data for enzyme kinetics using our off-line form of the Michaelis–Menten equation was obtained (K_m = 2.64 mM), which is much smaller than that reported in solution (K_m = 6.0 mM). Due to the hydrophobic property and the native mesoscopic structure of the poly(ethylene terephthalate) film, the immobilized enzyme in the microreactor shows good stability and bioactivity under the flowing conditions.