Njus Zach, Kong Taejoon, Kalwa Upender, Legner Christopher, Weinstein Matthew, Flanigan Shawn, Saldanha Jenifer, Pandey Santosh
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011, USA.
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011, USA.
APL Bioeng. 2017 Oct 9;1(1):016102. doi: 10.1063/1.5005829. eCollection 2017 Dec.
Today, the area of point-of-care diagnostics is synonymous with paper microfluidics where cheap, disposable, and on-the-spot detection toolkits are being developed for a variety of chemical tests. In this work, we present a novel application of microfluidic paper-based analytical devices (μPADs) to study the behavior of a small model nematode, We describe schemes of μPAD fabrication on paper and plastic substrates where membranes are created in agarose and Pluronic gel. Methods are demonstrated for loading, visualizing, and transferring single and multiple nematodes. Using an anthelmintic drug, levamisole, we show that chemical testing on is easily performed because of the open device structure. A custom program is written to automatically recognize individual worms on the μPADs and extract locomotion parameters in real-time. The combination of μPADs and the nematode tracking program provides a relatively low-cost, simple-to-fabricate imaging and screening assay (compared to standard agarose plates or polymeric microfluidic devices) for non-microfluidic, nematode laboratories.
如今，即时诊断领域与纸质微流控技术同义，人们正在开发用于各种化学测试的廉价、一次性且可现场检测的工具包。在这项工作中，我们展示了基于微流控纸基分析装置（μPADs）的一种新应用，用于研究小型模式线虫的行为。我们描述了在纸和塑料基板上制造μPADs的方案，其中在琼脂糖和普朗尼克凝胶中形成膜。展示了加载、可视化以及转移单个和多个线虫的方法。使用驱虫药左旋咪唑，我们表明由于装置结构开放，在μPADs上进行化学测试很容易。编写了一个自定义程序来自动识别μPADs上的单个线虫并实时提取运动参数。与标准琼脂糖平板或聚合物微流控装置相比，μPADs与线虫跟踪程序的结合为非微流控线虫实验室提供了一种成本相对较低、易于制造的成像和筛选分析方法。
