Enzyme logic gates for assessing physiological conditions during an injury: Towards digital sensors and actuators

We describe preliminary results on an enzyme logic sensing system for a reliable assessment of the overall physiological condition during an injury. The new system consists of AND and XOR logic gates based on the concerted operation of tyrosinase, glucose oxidase, lactate dehydrogenase and microperoxidase-11. The enzyme logic system is activated by physiologically relevant concentrations of the input signals of biomarkers: norepinephrine, oxygen, glucose and lactate mimicking in vitro different injuries, including trauma brain injury and hemorrhagic shock. We anticipate that such biochemical logic gates will eventually facilitate decision-making towards the initiation of an optimal timely therapeutic intervention, leading to improved survival of injured soldiers and civilians. The biochemical logic system analyzing biomarker signals represents the first step towards digitally operating sensors and actuators with chemical information processing steps.