Effective Optical Image Assessment of Cellulose Paper Immunostrips for Blood Typing

Area of Science:

• Biomaterials Science
• Analytical Chemistry
• Immunotechnology

Background:

• Microporous cellulose matrices are promising for high-performance, cost-effective biosensors.
• Paper-based analytical devices offer advantages in portability and ease of use.
• Accurate and rapid blood typing is critical in emergency transfusion scenarios.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and evaluate portable paper-based immunostrips for in-field blood typing.
• To functionalize cellulose membranes with antibodies for enhanced biosensing.
• To develop a robust method for evaluating blood agglutination for clinical application.

Main Methods:

• Functionalization of cellulose fibrils with antibodies via supramolecular interactions.
• Utilizing paper with a 3 µm pore size to facilitate antibody immobilization and block red blood cells.
• Testing of immunostrip performance with various blood types (AB0 and Rh systems).
• Quantum mechanical calculations to confirm hydrogen bond formation between IgM and cellulose.

Main Results:

• Successful development of paper-based immunostrips capable of naked-eye blood type determination.
• Demonstrated high sensitivity and specificity for AB0 and Rh blood group antigens.
• Established the durability of the IgM immunostrips during storage.
• Proposed a novel statistical method for evaluating digitized agglutination images.

Conclusions:

• Portable paper-based immunostrips are effective for rapid, in-field blood typing.
• The developed method offers a low-cost, sensitive, and user-friendly alternative for emergency diagnostics.
• Further development could lead to automated blood typing systems using machine vision.