A smartphone-based immunochromatographic strip platform for on-site quantitative detection of antigenic targets

• Published in: Lab on a chip Vol. 24; no. 19; pp. 4639 - 4648
• Main Authors: Zhang, Enhui, Zeng, Qing, Xu, Yanwen, Lu, Jinhui, Li, Chengcheng, Xiao, Ke, Li, Xiaozhou, Li, Jinfeng, Li, Tingting, Li, Chengyao, Zhang, Ling
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Royal Society of Chemistry 24.09.2024
• Subjects: Ampicillin; Antigens; Community health care; Cost effectiveness; Health care facilities; Onsite; Portable equipment; Smartphones; Target detection
• ISSN: 1473-0197; 1473-0189; 1473-0189
• DOI: 10.1039/d4lc00484a

To report the testing signal of an immunochromatographic assay for on-site quantitative detection, a portable and user-friendly smartphone-based biosensing platform is developed in this study. This innovative system is composed of an ambient light sensor inherent smartphone reader and a 3D-printed handhold device, a quantitative tool capable of directly interpreting carbon nanoparticle (CNP)-conjugated immunochromatographic strips. To showcase the platform capability, the smartphone-based immunochromatography system (SPICS) reader and device were successfully used in CNP strips for rapid detection of the early pregnancy marker human chorionic gonadotropin in female urine (HCG; limit of detection [LOD]: 0.30 mIU mL ), prostate-specific antigen in patient blood (PSA; LOD: 0.28 ng mL ) and ampicillin residue in animal milk (AMP; LOD: 0.23 ng mL ). The results were fully correlated with conventional commercial instruments ( = 0.99). The SPICS platform exhibits significant advantages, including portability, cost-effectiveness, easy operation, and rapid and quantitative detection, making it a valuable on-site diagnosis tool for use in home and community healthcare facilities.