A paper microfluidics-based fluorescent lateral flow immunoassay for point-of-care diagnostics of non-communicable diseases

Abstract

In the emergency diagnosis of patients, acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is always time-consuming to diagnose, and the process requires multiple laboratory procedures, expensive equipment and skilled workers. Herein, we developed an easy-to-use, low-cost and portable fluorescent lateral flow immunoassay based on paper microfluidics for the point-of-care diagnostics of non-communicable diseases. The fluorescent lateral flow immunoassay can produce results in less than 10 minutes, and the limit of detection (LOD) is 0.019 ng ml⁻¹. The slope was linear from 0 to 100 ng ml⁻¹; the equation is y = 0.0342e^2.1181x and R² = 0.9618, which are distinctive features that ensure maximum amplification of the signal and recording of quantitative values by an analyser. The detection sensitivity showed an exceptional increase to 0.01 ng ml⁻¹. Compared with conventional bioassay readers, our analyser shows some advantages to easily, clearly and effectively read data. The present point-of-care test for cardiac troponin I decreases the turnaround time and has a high coefficient of variation even at lower concentrations of troponin. So, the development of lateral flow assay-based point-of-care assays with higher analytical performance for real world samples can decrease the rule-out time for AMI in emergency departments and other fields.