Rapid Real-Time Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing with Electrical Sensing on Plastic Microchips with Printed...

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Clinical Microbiology
• Point-of-Care Diagnostics

Background:

• Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) impedes antibiotic efficacy, necessitating rapid diagnostic tools.
• Conventional culture-based methods for antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) are time-consuming.
• There is a critical need for point-of-care (POC) platforms for rapid pathogen detection and AST.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a rapid, label-free biosensor for simultaneous bacteria isolation and AST from whole blood.
• To provide a POC technology for timely therapeutic decision-making in clinical settings.
• To address the limitations of conventional AST methods.

Main Methods:

• Antibody-functionalized microchips with printed electrodes were used for bacteria capture from whole blood (30 min).
• Electrical response monitoring in the presence and absence of antibiotics over 1 hour.
• Evaluation using clinical models: Escherichia coli and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

Main Results:

• The biosensor achieved rapid (<90 min) bacteria isolation and AST.
• Demonstrated effectiveness with common clinical isolates and a panel of antibiotics.
• Results showed comparable accuracy to standard bacterial viability and antibiogram assays.

Conclusions:

• The developed biosensor offers a precise and rapid method for bacteria screening and AST.
• This technology has the potential to guide clinical therapies by identifying effective antibiotics.
• Facilitates optimized antibiotic selection, crucial for combating AMR.