DC-biased optofluidic biolaser for uric acid detection

Optofluidic biolaser is an emerging technology for chemical and biomedical sensing. However, the sensitivity of optofluidic laser is still limited by the laser threshold condition. In this paper we report a DC-biased optofluidic biolaser for uric acid (UA) detection. Inside a Fabry-Perot laser cavity, a coupled enzyme reaction was employed to transform the detection of UA into the detection of analyte-converted hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). The fluorescent product of the enzyme-catalyzed reaction, resorufin, was employed as gain medium for optofluidic lasing. An optimized concentration of H2O2 was pre-added as a DC bias to counterbalance the requirement of high analyte concentration for lasing. UA detection with a limit of detection of 3.63 μM was achieved with a low sample volume as small as 10 μl. This work provides a sensitive technology using optofluidic biolaser for the detection of substance in human body fluids that can be converted into H2O2.