Advances in Nucleic Acid Amplification-Based Microfluidic Devices for Clinical Microbial Detection

• Published in: Chemosensors Vol. 10; no. 4; p. 123
• Main Authors: Trinh, Thi Ngoc Diep, Lee, Nae Yoon
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 25.03.2022
• Subjects: Acids; Automation; Blood; clinical microbial detection; Commercialization; Design; Devices; Disease control; DNA polymerase; Enzymes; Gene amplification; Immunology; isothermal amplification; Methods; microfluidic device; Microfluidic devices; Microorganisms; nucleic acid amplification; Nucleic acids; Pathogens; PCR; Platforms; Polymerase chain reaction; Proteins; Recombinase; Reviews; sample preparation; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Staphylococcus infections; Thermal cycling; Viral diseases
• ISSN: 2227-9040; 2227-9040
• DOI: 10.3390/chemosensors10040123

Accurate and timely detection of infectious pathogens is urgently needed for disease treatment and control of possible outbreaks worldwide. Conventional methods for pathogen detection are usually time-consuming and labor-intensive. Novel strategies for the identification of pathogenic nucleic acids are necessary for practical application. The advent of microfluidic technology and microfluidic devices has offered advanced and miniaturized tools to rapidly screen microorganisms, improving many drawbacks of conventional nucleic acid amplification-based methods. In this review, we summarize advances in the microfluidic approach to detect pathogens based on nucleic acid amplification. We survey microfluidic platforms performing two major types of nucleic acid amplification strategies, namely, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and isothermal nucleic acid amplification. We also provide an overview of nucleic acid amplification-based platforms including studies and commercialized products for SARS-CoV-2 detection. Technologically, we focus on the design of the microfluidic devices, the selected methods for sample preparation, nucleic acid amplification techniques, and endpoint analysis. We also compare features such as analysis time, sensitivity, and specificity of different platforms. The first section of the review discusses methods used in microfluidic devices for upstream clinical sample preparation. The second section covers the design, operation, and applications of PCR-based microfluidic devices. The third section reviews two common types of isothermal nucleic acid amplification methods (loop-mediated isothermal amplification and recombinase polymerase amplification) performed in microfluidic systems. The fourth section introduces microfluidic applications for nucleic acid amplification-based detection of SARS-CoV-2. Finally, the review concludes with the importance of full integration and quantitative analysis for clinical microbial identification.