Rapid detection assay of toxigenic Clostridioides difficile through PathOC RightGene, a novel high-speed polymerase chain reaction device

Nucleic acid amplification tests for diagnosing Clostridioides difficile infections (CDI) are improving to become faster and more accurate. This study aimed to evaluate the accuracy of rapid detection of toxigenic C. difficile using the novel high-speed polymerase chain reaction (PCR) device, PathOC RightGene. These results were compared and evaluated with real-time PCR (qPCR) and enzyme immunoassays (EIA) kit. For this study, 102 C. difficile and 3 Clostridium species isolated from CDI patients were used. These C. difficile isolates were 85 toxigenic and 17 non-toxigenic strains. The results of qPCR served as a standard, and sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy of the PathOC Right Gene were 99.2%, 99.4%, 100%, 98.8%, and 99.3%, respectively. Turnaround time of qPCR and EIA was 85 and 30 minutes, whereas PathOC RightGene was only 25 minutes including DNA extraction. This novel high-speed PCR device detected toxigenic C. difficile rapidly and accurately.

Development of a single-step immunoassay microdevice based on a graphene oxide-containing hydrogel possessing fluorescence quenching and size separation functions

An immunoassay, which is an indispensable analytical method both in biological research and in medical fields was successfully integrated into a "single-step" by developing a microdevice composed of a graphene oxide (GO)-containing hydrogel and a poly (dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) microchannel array with a polyethylene glycol (PEG) coating containing a fluorescently-labelled antibody. Here we used 2-hydroxyethylmethacrylate (HEMA) as a monomer that is easily, and homogeneously, mixed with GO to synthesize the hydrogel. The fluorescence quenching and size separation functions were then optimized by controlling the ratios of HEMA and GO. Free fluorescently-labelled antibody was successfully separated from the immunoreaction mixture by the hydrogel network structure, and the fluorescence was subsequently quenched by GO. In comparison to the previously reported immunoassay system using GO, the present system achieved a very high fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) efficiency (∼90%), due to the use of direct adsorption of the fluorescently-labelled antibody to the GO surface; in contrast, the former reported method relied on indirect adsorption of the fluorescently-labelled antibody via immunocomplex formation at the GO surface. Finally, the single-step immunoassay microdevice was made by combining the developed hydrogel and the PDMS microchannel with a coating containing the fluorescently-labelled antibody, and successfully applied for the single-step analysis of IgM levels in diluted human serum by simple introduction of the sample via capillary action.

Fast and single-step immunoassay based on fluorescence quenching within a square glass capillary immobilizing graphene oxide-antibody conjugate and fluorescently labelled antibody

A single-step, easy-to-use, and fast capillary-type immunoassay device composed of a polyethylene glycol (PEG) coating containing two kinds of antibody-reagents, including an antibody-graphene oxide conjugate and fluorescently labelled antibody, was developed in this study. The working principle involved the spontaneous dissolution of the PEG coating, diffusion of reagents, and subsequent immunoreaction, triggered by the capillary action-mediated introduction of a sample solution. In a sample solution containing the target antigen, two types of antibody reagents form a sandwich-type antigen-antibody complex and fluorescence quenching takes place via fluorescence resonance energy transfer between the labelled fluorescent molecules and graphene oxide. Antigen concentration can be measured based on the decrease in fluorescence intensity. An antigen concentration-dependent response was obtained for the model target protein sample (human IgG, 0.2-10 μg mL(-1)). The present method can shorten the reaction time to within 1 min (approximately 40 s), while conventional methods using the same reagents require reaction times of approximately 20 min because of the large reaction scale. The proposed method is one of the fastest immunoassays ever reported. Finally, the present device was used to measure human IgG in diluted serum samples to demonstrate that this method can be used for fast medical diagnosis.

Highly Sensitive and Multiple Enzyme Activity Assay Using Reagent-release Capillary-Isoelectric Focusing with Rhodamine 110-based Substrates

In this study, a simple and highly sensitive enzyme activity assay based on reagent-release capillary-isoelectric focusing is described. Reagent-release capillaries containing a fluorescent substrate, which produces fluorescent products possessing an isoelectric point after reaction with enzymes, provides a simple procedure. This is because it allows to spontaneously inject a sample solution into the capillary by capillary action, mixing reagents, and subsequently concentrating the fluorescent products based on isoelectric focusing. Fluorescent rhodamine 110 and its monoamide derivative, which were generated as a final product and an intermediate, respectively, were then focused and separated by reagent-release capillary-isoelectric focusing. After 30 min of enzyme reactions, two focused fluorescent bands were clearly isolated along the prepared capillaries. Employing the focused band of rhodamine 110 monoamide allowed for highly sensitive detection of enzyme activity in the 10 pg mL(-1) order, while that of the conventional assay using a microplate was in the ng mL(-1) order. Furthermore, arraying reagent-release capillaries of different substrates on a chip allowed for simultaneous multi-assay of enzyme activity with good sensitivity in the pg mL(-1) order for each protein.

Interfacial Phenomena and Fluid Control in Micro/Nanofluidics

Fundamental aspects of rapidly advancing micro/nanofluidic devices are reviewed from the perspective of liquid interface chemistry and physics, including the influence of capillary pressure in microfluidic two-phase flows and phase transitions related to capillary condensation.

Spatiotemporal Control of Electrokinetic Transport in Nanofluidics Using an Inverted Electron-Beam Lithography System

Manipulation techniques of biomolecules have been proposed for biochemical analysis which combine electrokinetic dynamics, such as electrophoresis or electroosmotic flow, with optical manipulation to provide high throughput and high spatial degrees of freedom. However, there are still challenging problems in nanoscale manipulation due to the diffraction limit of optics. We propose here a new manipulation technique for spatiotemporal control of chemical transport in nanofluids using an inverted electron-beam (EB) lithography system for liquid samples. By irradiating a 2.5 keV EB to a liquid sample through a 100-nm-thick SiN membrane, negative charges can be generated within the SiN membrane, and these negative charges can induce a highly focused electric field in the liquid sample. We showed that the EB-induced negative charges could induce fluid flow, which was strong enough to manipulate 240 nm nanoparticles in water, and we verified that the main dynamics of this EB-induced fluid flow was electroosmosis caused by changing the zeta potential of the SiN membrane surface. Moreover, we demonstrated manipulation of a single nanoparticle and concentration patterning of nanoparticles by scanning EB. Considering the shortness of the EB wavelength and Debye length in buffer solutions, we expect that our manipulation technique will be applied to nanomanipulation of biomolecules in biochemical analysis and control.

A single-step enzyme immunoassay capillary sensor composed of functional multilayer coatings for the diagnosis of marker proteins

A single-step, easy-to-use enzyme immunoassay capillary sensor, composed of substrate-immobilized hydrophobic coating, hydrogel coating, and soluble coating containing an enzyme-labeled antibody, was developed.