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Published on: July 6, 2017
Smartphone and home-based liquid crystal sensor for rapid screening of acute myocardial infarction by naked-eye
Er-Yuan Chuang1, Thi-Luu Ho2, Yen-Chieh Wang3
1Graduate Institute of Biomedical Materials and Tissue Engineering, College of Biomedical Engineering, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, 11031, Taiwan; International PhD Program for Biomedical Engineering, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, 11031, Taiwan.
Abstract:
An early diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) or thrombosis is complicated in patients with non-diagnostic features. AMI or thrombosis patients with chest pain are unintentionally discharged and have increased mortality. The study aimed to develop a smartphone biomedical sensor as a rapid test for AMI or thrombosis by naked-eye observation. The system was built on dimethyloctadecyl [3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl]ammonium chloride (DMOAP)-coated glass substrates, which refers to a nematic liquid crystal (LC)-binding antibody. One of the main biomolecules, cardiac troponin I (cTnI), is a substance in blood in people whose bodies are vulnerable to suffering a myocardial infarction or thrombosis. The other medium, LC, is a sensing biomaterial as an earlier detection method of ameliorating the disadvantages of older methods. Results revealed that the density of cTnI was positively correlated with the coefficient of light transmittance, and it has a high chance of being developed as a point-of-care device for a home inspection as it can be operated with a smartphone. As discussed above, the nematic LC is an effective and innovative healthcare method as a rapid test for diagnosis of AMI or thrombosis related diseases by naked-eye observation.

