Development of an Integrated Optical Sensor for Determination of β-Hydroxybutyrate Within the Microplatform

Ketone bodies (acetoacetate, beta-hydroxybutyrate (βHB), acetone) are generated as a result of fatty acid oxidation in the liver and exist at low concentrations in urine and blood. Elevated concentrations can indicate health problems such as diabetes, childhood hypoglycemia, alcohol, or salicylate poisoning. Development of portable and cost-effective bedside point-of-care (POC) tests to detect such compounds can help to reduce the risk of disease progression. In this study, βHB was chosen as a model molecule for developing an optical sensor–integrated microplatform. Prior to sensor optimization, βHB levels were measured at a concentration range of 0.02 and 0.1 mM spectrophotometrically, which is far below the reported elevated ranges of 1–2 mM and resulting absorbance changes were converted into an Arduino microcontroller code for the correlation. Measurements performed with the designed integrated microplatform were found significant. Integrated microplatform was verified with the benchtop spectrophotometer. Measurements between 0.02 and 0.1 mM substrate concentration were found highly sensitive with “y = 0.7347x + 0.00184” with R² value of 0.9796, and the limit of detection was determined as 0.02 mM. Based on these results, the proposed system will allow on-site and early intervention.