Issue 10, 2020

Microneedle-based bioassays

Abstract

Disease diagnosis and therapeutic efficacy can be monitored via a number of established bioassays that sample body fluids to assess and monitor health conditions. Traditional bioassays generally include several steps and start with invasive body fluid extraction procedures. These steps are painful and often require specialized techniques and tailored equipment, as well as the supervision of professional medical personnel. Innovations in engineering alternative bioassays to address these shortcomings are thus desired. Microneedles (MNs) represent promising tools to sample body fluids, in view of their minimal invasiveness, painlessness, and uncomplicated implementation. Recent progress in microfabrication and materials engineering, including the development of hollow and solid MNs with uniquely optimized architectures and multi-functional materials, has positioned MN-based platforms as prime candidates for bioassay solutions. In this minireview, we summarize the studies of MN-based platforms for detection and diagnosis. We categorize the platforms based on three different mechanisms: MNs as body fluid reservoirs, MNs integrated with electrochemical assays, and MNs engineered with colorimetric analyses. A discussion of design principles for MN-based bioassay platforms is presented. We also discuss the challenges and opportunities associated with MN-based bioassays in future clinical applications.

Graphical abstract: Microneedle-based bioassays

Article information

Article type
Minireview
Submitted
29 juin 2020
Accepted
23 août 2020
First published
18 sept. 2020
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Nanoscale Adv., 2020,2, 4295-4304

Microneedle-based bioassays

J. Zhu, X. Zhou, A. Libanori and W. Sun, Nanoscale Adv., 2020, 2, 4295 DOI: 10.1039/D0NA00543F

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