Design of a microfluidic paper-based device for analysis of biomarkers from urine samples on diapers.

Abstract

Among all infections, urinary tract infections (UTI) are one of the most common. Nowadays the procedures to analyze urine and consequently detect UTI are often painful and time-consuming. Recent studies about microfluidic paper-based devices have developed the interest of researchers due their outstanding characteristics. In this paper is presented a novel design for a microfluidic paper-based device for screening and analysis of multiple biomarkers from urine samples on diapers. The device consists on a set of eight layers. It was designed based on the previous attempts to improve and overcome some problems detected as the continuous entrance of fluids, the possibility of contamination and the invalidity of results due to communication between different reagent pads. One approach was create a "self-locking" mechanism that closes the sample inlet in approximately four minutes solving the first two problems. Furthermore, is important that comfort is guaranteed, hence a device with a total thickness of 5,3 mm is presented. This device can keep the results for eight hours and can be used as a low-cost and more effective alternative than conventional methods being a strategy with potential for the diagnostic and analysis of biological samples in the future improving healthcare.