Abstract 9062: A Rapid and Point-of-Care Device for Real-Time Monitoring of Pulmonary Hypertension Biomarkers

Abstract

Introduction: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a life-threatening condition that remains undetected at an early stage because diagnosis relies heavily on physiological presentations. The gold standard for biomolecular analysis is a blood test, which is invasive and increases the risk of infections, particularly in rural areas. To narrow this gap, we used a low-cost fabrication method to develop a sensor for real-time and bedside monitoring of a PH biomarker, B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) in serum. Hypothesis: The sensor will facilitate research on early identification of the risk of PH from dynamic measurements of biomarkers, which will reduce cardiac failures resulting from delayed and missed diagnoses of PH Methods: We used a low-cost screen-printing technique to fabricate a 3 electrode-based electrochemical sensor on a flexible polyimide substrate (Fig. 1a). The working electrode (WE) was functionalized with anti-BNP. The sensor was interfaced with a potentiostat that applied a potential between the WE and reference electrode (RE) and measured the resulting current from the WE to counter electrode (CE). The BNP/anti-BNP binding on the WE resulted in variations in the redox current. Results: The sensor detected BNP in only 50 μl of fetal bovine serum. Fig. 1b shows the current vs. potential scan for BNP concentrations ranging from 0.1 to 500 pg/mL. The amount of current flow between WE and CE was proportional to the serum BNP levels. The sensor exhibited a sensitivity of 0.584 μA (pg/mL) -1 cm 2 (from Fig. 1c) and a response time of 4s. The sensor also showed high selectivity against common interfering species (Fig. 1d) and good repeatability with a response variability of <1% between identical sensors (Fig. 1e). Conclusions: The project will advance the field of bedside monitoring of PH biomarkers. The low-cost and plug-and-play feature of the sensor allows adoption by rural communities. The sensor can be readily reconfigured and expanded to monitor other biomarkers.