Bienzymatic analytical microreactors for glucose, lactate, ethanol, galactose and l-amino acid monitoring in cell culture media

A new alternative method for bioprocess monitoring based on bienzymatic analytical microreactors integrated in a flow injection analysis (FIA) system is described. Glucose-, alcohol-, lactate-, galactose- and l-amino acid oxidases (GO, AO, LacO, GalO and LAAO) and horseradish peroxidase (HRP) are immobilized on controlled pore glass (CPG) and used for the development of glucose, ethanol, lactate, galactose and amino acid sensors. The analytical methodology is based on HRP catalysed reaction of hydrogen peroxide produced by oxidases with phenol-4-sulfonic acid and 4-aminoantipyrine. The immobilized enzymes are characterized and used for preparation of the packed bed analytical microreactors. Shelf life and operational stability of the microeactors are determined. GO/HRP, AO/HRP and LAAO/HRP microreactors showed excellent shelf life, they could be stored and reused for more than 6 months with no or very little activity loss, while GalO/HRP and LacO/HRP could be stored for shorter periods of time (10-20 days). Operational stability of GO and LacO microreactors was very good: an equivalent to 16,900 FIA injections of 25 μl to a LacO microreactor resulted in loss of half of its activity, immobilized GO was so stable that it was impossible to evaluate enzyme halflife. Immobilized GalO and LAAO lose their operational activity much faster: approximately 1400 and 8000 FIA injections of the respective substrate solution in a FIA set-up resulted in 50% activity loss. The methods with all the described microreactors were successfully validated using off-line samples from S. cerevisiae, E. coli and mesenchymal stem cell cultures with HPLC as the reference method.