Lysozyme (LYS) is a bacteriolytic enzyme, available in secretions such as saliva, tears and human milk. LYS is an important defence molecule of the innate immune system, and its overexpression can be a consequence of diseases such as leukemia, kidney disease and sarcoidosis. This paper reports on a digital microfluidic-based approach that combines the gold nanoparticle-enhanced chemiluminescence with aptamer interaction to detect human lysozyme into droplets 20 nanoliters in volume. The described method allows identifying LYS with a 44.6 femtomolar limit of detection, using sample volume as low as 1 μL and detection time in the range of 10 min. We used luminol to generate the chemiluminescence and demonstrated that the compartmentalization of LYS in droplets also comprising gold nanoparticles provided enhanced luminescence. We functionalized the gold nanoparticles with a thiolated aptamer to achieve the required selectivity that allowed us to detect LYS in human serum.

溶菌酶（LYS）是一种细菌分解酶，可用于唾液，眼泪和人乳等分泌物中。LYS是先天免疫系统的重要防御分子，其过表达可能是白血病，肾脏疾病和结节病等疾病的结果。本文报道了一种基于数字微流控的方法，该方法结合了金纳米颗粒增强的化学发光与适体相互作用，可将人溶菌酶检测成20纳升的液滴。所描述的方法允许使用低至1μL的样品体积和10分钟范围内的检测时间，以44.6飞摩尔的检测限鉴定LYS。我们使用鲁米诺产生化学发光，并证明了在还包含金纳米颗粒的液滴中，LYS的区室化提供了增强的发光。