Polysaccharide Hydrogel-Assisted Biosensing Platforms for Point-of-Care Use

Area of Science:

• Biomaterials Science
• Analytical Chemistry
• Point-of-Care Diagnostics

Background:

• Centralized laboratory testing struggles to meet increasing demand for rapid, frequent health monitoring.
• Developing simple, affordable, sensitive, and effective point-of-care (POC) biosensing platforms remains challenging.
• Hydrogels, biocompatible water-absorbing polymers, show significant potential for advanced biosensor development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review recent advancements in hydrogel-assisted biosensing platforms for POC applications.
• To highlight the utility of polysaccharide hydrogels (e.g., agarose, alginate, chitosan) in biosensor design.
• To provide insights for developing effective POC biosensing platforms, particularly for resource-limited settings.

Main Methods:

• Review of current literature on hydrogel-based biosensing platforms.
• Focus on polysaccharide hydrogels and their properties.
• Analysis of various device formats including paper-based analytical devices (PADs), microfluidic devices, and independent platforms.

Main Results:

• Polysaccharide hydrogels offer diverse applications in biosensing, including hydrophilic coatings, filtration, and signal enhancement.
• Case studies demonstrate the successful application of hydrogel-assisted platforms in different formats.
• Hydrogels contribute to stimuli-responsive and biodegradable biosensing functionalities.

Conclusions:

• Hydrogel-assisted biosensing platforms show great promise for achieving sensitive, effective, and affordable POC diagnostics.
• Polysaccharide hydrogels are key materials for developing next-generation POC biosensors.
• This review offers valuable information for advancing POC biosensing in resource-limited environments.