Point‐of‐care diagnostic devices for dry eye disease

Abstract

AbstractPurpose: Tears can be utilized as a surrogate medium for blood constituents to perform continual analyte measurements in point‐of‐care settings. This work aims to develop fluorescent tear lactoferrin sensor and implement the sensor on different point‐of‐care (POC) platforms for ocular health diagnosis through a smartphone camera‐based application.Methods: The fluorescent lactoferrin sensor was developed based on the binding with trivalent terbium (TbCl3) and its sensitivity and selectivity were examined in Tris buffer solutions and artificial tear fluid (ATF). The lactoferrin sensor was then integrated on various platforms including lateral flow detection, capillary tube detection, and contact lens detection. A smartphone camera and 3D printed readout device were applied for data collection. The smartphone application was designed and employed for data processing.Results: A relative high linearity of lactoferrin (0.0–5.0 mg/ml) in buffer solutions and ATF were achieved with a slope of 3.32 (R2 = 0.99) and 4.28 (R2 = 0.98) respectively. The linear regression for lactoferrin sensors in lateral flow sensing, capillary tube sensing and contact lens sensing platforms was 0.90, 0.93 and 0.97, respectively. Their corresponding limit of detection was yielded at 0.57, 0.12 and 0.44 mg/ml, respectively.Conclusions: This work provides various platforms for sensitively and selectively tear lactoferrin monitoring at POC platform for potential clinical applications. The region of interest and auto‐exposure adjustment for smartphone application can be developed further in future experiments. The contact lens sensor is promings to provide patients with quantitative readouts to monitor ocular diseases continually.