DEVELOPMENT OF A BLOOD TESTING DEVICE BASED ON LOCALIZED SURFACE PLASMON RESONANCE

Abstract

We developed a novel blood testing device which extracts plasma from a minute amount of whole blood and detects specific proteins in the plasma using LSPR (localized surface plasmon resonance). We detected an antigen-antibody reaction by measuring light scattering by gold nanoparticles in the device, and demonstrated that the present device permits detection of tPA (tissue plasminogen activator). I. INTRODUCTION The concern for healthcare and preventive medical care is rising with increase of the lifestyle-related diseases and population aging. There is going to be a greater demand for periodical and on-site diagnosable blood tests which are carried out at home by nonprofessional people. Then, many research groups have already reported about microfluidic devices to separate blood for simple blood testing. For example, the microfluidic devices which extract blood plasma using the Zweifach-Fung effect were developed(1). However, these devices require flow control using a pump. Also, the microfluidic device which separates blood into cells and plasma by dielectrophoresis was developed(2). However, this device causes hemolysis and blood deterioration due to joule heat. Therefore, we developed a microfluidic device for plasma extraction using capillary force without external driving sources. Moreover, we developed a novel technique for LSPR-based non-labeling detection of biomolecules in the device.