Towards microsystems for automatic acquisition of in vivo gastrointestinal information

The possibility to develop a microanalysis system for the acquisition of gastrointestinal information is presented here. The system consists of four assay sites for trypsin, pepsin, and other biochemical compounds. The major components in each assay site were a pH-responsive valve, a pH-stat used to maintain the pH of the solution to be analyzed and used for electrochemical pH-titration, and a freeze-dried enzyme substrate stored in the pH-stat. The operation of the valve is based on electrowetting, and the valve is made pH-responsive by means of a nonstandard three-electrode system. The sample solution was automatically injected into the compartment and rapidly dissolved into the substrate layer. The automatic pH-stat, based on another nonstandard use of the electrochemical three-electrode system, maintained the solution pH and, at the same time, conducted pH-titration. The determination of the activity of the proteases was conducted at their optimum pHs. The output current showed a clear dependence on the activity of the enzymes. Integrating the functions provides significant advantages for the use of this system as an isolated telemetric microsystem that may operate with wireless signal transmission using a small power supply.