Rapid and Accurate Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing Using Label-Free Electrical Impedance-Based Microfluidic...

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Microfluidics
• Infectious Diseases

Background:

• Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses a significant global health threat.
• Conventional antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) methods are time-consuming, often requiring over 24 hours.
• There is a critical need for rapid AST to guide effective antibiotic treatment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a novel microfluidic platform for rapid AST.
• To enable single-bacterium level analysis of bacterial viability.
• To streamline AST procedures for clinical applications.

Main Methods:

• A label-free, electrical impedance-based microfluidic platform was designed.
• Bacterial samples were exposed to antibiotics for 30 minutes.
• High-throughput impedance characterization was performed at the single-bacterium level.
• Bacterial viability was assessed by changes in electrical characteristics.

Main Results:

• The platform enabled AST results in as little as 2 minutes.
• Accurate determination of antimicrobial resistance was achieved by analyzing individual bacterial viability.
• Testing of E. coli strains against five antibiotics demonstrated 100% categorical agreement with standard culture methods.
• The platform showed high throughput and single-bacterium resolution.

Conclusions:

• The developed microfluidic platform significantly accelerates AST.
• This technology facilitates rapid and accurate assessment of antimicrobial resistance.
• The platform holds strong potential for clinical application in improving antibiotic stewardship and patient outcomes.