A paper-based dual functional biosensor for safe and user-friendly point-of-care urine analysis

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Analytical Chemistry
• Point-of-Care Diagnostics

Background:

• Chronic kidney disease (CKD) monitoring requires reliable urinary biomarker analysis.
• Current methods are often time-consuming, hospital-dependent, or pose health risks.
• There is a need for sensitive, safe, and user-friendly diagnostic tools.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a paper-based dual biosensor for simultaneous urine pH and glucose analysis.
• To integrate the biosensor with a clinical urine sampling vial for a closed-system analysis.
• To provide a safe and accurate point-of-care diagnostic tool for frontline clinical settings.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of an iridium oxide (IrOx) based electrochemical pH sensor on paper.
• Development of a glucose sensor using glucose oxidase (GOx), Prussian blue, gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), chitosan, and graphite composites.
• Integration of sensors into a sealed urine sampling vial for simultaneous, quantitative analysis.

Main Results:

• The pH sensor demonstrated ultrahigh sensitivity (71.58 mV pH^-1).
• The glucose sensor achieved a sensitivity of 1.5 μA mM^-1.
• Clinical validation showed high correlation coefficients (0.96 for pH, 0.98 for glucose) with commercial methods.

Conclusions:

• The developed dual biosensor provides rapid, accurate, and safe analysis of urine biomarkers.
• The sealed sampling vial design minimizes health risks and simplifies procedures.
• This technology shows significant promise for point-of-care diagnostics in managing chronic kidney disease.