In recent years, the use of fiber optics has become an important tool in biomedicine and biotechnology. We are involved in developing and employing a new system which, through the use of fiber optics, may be capable of measuring the content of cholesterol and lipoproteins in blood samples in real time. In the optical fiber-based biosensor, a laser beam having a wavelength of 512 nm (green light) is launched into an optical fiber, which transmits the light to its distal end. An evanescent wave (travelling just outside the fiber core) is used to excite rhodamine-labelled HDL or LDL which become bound to the fiber or to fiber-bound molecules. The fluorescence (red light) is coupled back into the fiber and detected with a photodiode. Preliminary work has involved testing of high density lipoprotein (HDL) binding to a cholesterol-coated fiber and to a bare fiber and low density lipoprotein (LDL) binding to a cholesterol-coated fiber. A significant difference was observed in the binding rate of HDL (5 (mu) g/mL and lower) to a bare fiber as opposed to a cholesterol-coated fiber. The binding rate of HDL (5 (mu) g/mL) to a bare fiber was 7.5 (mu) V/sec and to a cholesterol-coated fiber was 3.5 (mu) V/sec. We have calculated the binding affinity of LDL to a cholesterol- coated fiber as 1.4 (mu) M^-1. These preliminary results suggest that the optical fiber-based biosensor can provide a unique and promising approach to the analysis of lipoprotein interaction with solid surfaces and with cholesterol. More importantly, the results suggest that this technique may be used to assess the binding of blood proteins to artificial organs/tissues, and to measure the amount of cholesterol, HDL and LDL in less than a minute.

Date Published: 21 May 1993
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 1886, Fiber Optic Sensors in Medical Diagnostics, (21 May 1993); doi: 10.1117/12.144844

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 1886:
Fiber Optic Sensors in Medical Diagnostics
Fred P. Milanovich, Editor(s)