Optical Density in Biochemistry: Principles and Applications in Analytical Methods: A Review

Abstract

Optical density is one of the great principles of optics, expressed as the attenuation of light by a medium through which it passes. In most applications, it provides a critical link between the phenomena of light-matter interactions observed in such diverse fields as photonics, materials science, and nanotechnology. It therefore becomes a key parameter in biochemical analysis that links sample absorbance characteristics at given wavelengths quantitatively to desirable determinations for an array of laboratory applications. The measurement of optical density has recently been reported to become central to enzymatic assays with avenues opened into enzyme kinetics, reaction dynamics, and even biomarker detection. The fact that this method is non-invasive places it among methods whose assays have enhanced sensitivity and specificity possible both in clinical diagnostics and biochemical research. This paper presents a review toward synthesis based on recent investigations related explicitly to principles development with implications and applications thereof. It also brings together recent discoveries about how to use optical density in biochemical tests, mainly looking at its part in improving the sharpness and success of many checks and sensor tools. It also pulls together recent clues about using optical density in enzyme tests, points out missing pieces of what we know, and offers where future studies should go. Even with the progress made in this area there are still gaps in our understanding especially about how to link optical density with new technologies and materials.