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Australian Journal of Chemistry Australian Journal of Chemistry Society
An international journal for chemical science
RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

A simple 3D printed microfluidic device for point-of-care analysis of urinary uric acid

Kolsoum Dalvand A , Alireza Ghiasvand https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4570-7988 A B * , Sepideh Keshan-Balavandy B , Feng Li B and Michael Breadmore B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Department of Chemistry, Lorestan University, Khoramabad, Iran.

B Australian Centre for Research on Separation Science (ACROSS), School of Natural Sciences, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tas. 7001, Australia.

* Correspondence to: alireza.ghiasvand@utas.edu.au

Handling Editor: John Wade

Australian Journal of Chemistry 76(2) 74-80 https://doi.org/10.1071/CH22180
Submitted: 14 August 2022  Accepted: 8 December 2022   Published: 10 February 2023

© 2023 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

Point-of-care testing (POCT) technology allows scientists to monitor and diagnose diseases at the patient site, much faster than classical lab-based methods. Herein, a rapid, simple, and sensitive 3D printed microfluidic device integrated with smartphone-based on-chip detection is described for POCT quantification of urinary uric acid. The device includes two circular inputs each connected to a microliter-scale chamber, separated by an integrated porous membrane, located between the sample and reagent chambers. The microfluidic device was fabricated from a transparent photopolymer using a 3D printer, in a single run. The concentration of uric acid was determined based on a chromogenic reaction in which ferrous ion, produced via the reduction of ferric ion by the analyte, complexed with 1,10-phenanthroline, and the color was recorded by a smartphone. Response surface methodology including a central composed design was utilized to evaluate the experimental parameters and subsequent introduction of a multivariate model to describe the experimental conditions. Under the optimum conditions, the calibration curve was linear over the concentration range of 30–600 mg L−1. The limit of detection was determined to be 10.5 mg L−1. The microfluidic device was successfully utilized for the recovery and quantification of uric acid in the urine, with recoveries ranging from 91.7 to 99.7%.

Keywords: 1,10-phenanthroline, 3D printing, colorimetric detection, microfluidic, point-of-care testing, smartphone-based on-chip detection, uric acid, urine.


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