Development of a disposable paper-based thin film solid-phase microextraction sampling kit to quantify ketone body

Area of Science:

• Analytical Chemistry
• Biomedical Diagnostics
• Materials Science

Background:

• Diabetes ketoacidosis (DKA) is a severe complication of diabetes, particularly type 1, requiring urgent medical intervention.
• Current DKA diagnostics rely on ketone body monitoring (e.g., beta-hydroxybutyric acid [BHB]) in urine/blood, facing limitations in accuracy and standardization.
• Existing methods for serum ketone body detection can yield false positives and lack precise quantification.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a novel paper-based thin-film solid-phase microextraction (TF-SPME) patch for simple BHB quantification.
• To couple the paper-based TF-SPME patch with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) for efficient DKA screening.
• To assess the performance of different coating materials for BHB extraction efficiency.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of paper-based TF-SPME patches using A4 paper coated with multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT), polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), and divinyl benzene (DVB).
• Extraction of BHB from a phosphate-buffered saline matrix using DVB/PDMS and DVB/CNT/PDMS coated paper patches.
• Quantification of BHB via gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) after desorption with acetonitrile.

Main Results:

• The DVB/PDMS-coated paper patches demonstrated higher BHB extraction efficiency compared to DVB/CNT/PDMS.
• Excellent linearity was achieved with a coefficient of determination (R²) of 0.99 in the BHB concentration range of 500-20,000 ng mL⁻¹.
• The developed paper-based TF-SPME method proved effective for BHB quantification.

Conclusions:

• Simple, cost-effective, disposable paper-based TF-SPME patches are feasible for DKA screening.
• This approach eliminates the need for lengthy traditional sample preparation steps in pathology.
• The developed patches offer a promising tool for future point-of-care DKA diagnostics.