Integrating Target-Responsive Hydrogel with Pressuremeter Readout Enables Simple, Sensitive, User-Friendly,
Dan Liu1, Shasha Jia1, Huimin Zhang1
1State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, The MOE Key Laboratory of Spectrochemical Analysis & Instrumentation, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, Key Laboratory for Chemical Biology of Fujian Province, and Department of Chemical Biology, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Affiliated Chenggong Hospital, Xiamen University , Xiamen 361005, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
Point-of-care testing (POCT) with the advantages of speed, simplicity, and low cost, as well as no need for instrumentation, is critical for the measurement of analytes in a variety of environments lacking access to laboratory infrastructure. In the present study, a hydrogel pressure-based assay for quantitative POCT was developed by integrating a target-responsive hydrogel with pressuremeter readout. The target-responsive hydrogels were constructed with DNA grafted linear polyacrylamide and the cross-linking DNA for selective target recognition. The hydrogel response to the target substance allows release of the preloaded Pt nanoparticles, which have good stability and excellent catalytic ability for decomposing H2O2 to O2. Then, the generated O2 in a sealed environment leads to significant pressure increase, which can be easily read out by a handheld pressuremeter. Using this target-responsive hydrogel pressure-based assay, portable and highly sensitive detection of cocaine, ochratoxin A, and lead ion were achieved with excellent accuracy and selectivity. With the advantages of portability, high sensitivity, and simple sample processing, the hydrogel pressure-based assay shows great potential for quantitative POCT of a broad range of targets in resource-limited settings.
