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Low-cost, portable, on-site fluorescent detection of As(III) by a paper-based microfluidic device based on aptamer and smartphone imaging

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Abstract

A turn-on fluorescent aptasensor based on a paper-based microfluidic chip was developed to detect arsenite via aptamer competition strategy and smartphone imaging. The chip was prepared by wax-printing hydrophilic channels on filter paper. It is portable, low-cost, and environmentally friendly. Double-stranded DNA consisting of aptamer and fluorescence-labeled complementary strands was immobilized on the reaction zone of the paper chip. Due to the specific strong binding between aptamer and arsenite, the fluorescent complementary strand was squeezed out and driven by capillary force to the detection area of the paper chip, so that the fluorescent signal arose in the detection area under the excitation wavelength of 488 nm. Arsenite can be quantified by using smartphone imaging and RGB image analysis. Under the optimal conditions, the paper-based microfluidic aptasensor exhibited excellent linear response over a wide range of 1 to 1000 nM, with a detection limit as low as 0.96 nM (3σ).

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Funding

This work is supported by the Shanghai Agriculture Applied Technology Development Program (No. 2020–02-08–00-07-F01477) and the Shanghai Committee of Science and Technology (No. 18391901200), China.

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Author notes

  1. Min Yuan, Chen Li, and Mengxue Wang contributed equally.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Food Rapid Detection, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, China

    Min Yuan, Chen Li, Mengxue Wang, Hui Cao, Tai Ye, Liling Hao, **uxiu Wu, Fengqin Yin, **song Yu & Fei Xu

Authors
  1. Min Yuan
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  2. Chen Li
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Correspondence to Fei Xu.

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Highlights

1. A fluorescent paper-based microfluidic device based on smartphone imaging was developed for the on-site detection of arsenite.

2. The device was portable, low-cost, and environmentally friendly.

3. The device displayed a low detection limit of 0.96 nM in arsenite detection.

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Supplementary file1 (DOCX 366 KB)

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Yuan, M., Li, C., Wang, M. et al. Low-cost, portable, on-site fluorescent detection of As(III) by a paper-based microfluidic device based on aptamer and smartphone imaging. Microchim Acta 190, 109 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-023-05693-3

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