Microfluidic Chip for Detection of Drug Resistance at the Single-cell Level

Abstract

Drug-resistant bacterial strains seriously threaten human health. Rapid screening of antibiotics is urgently required to improve clinical treatment. Conventional methods of antimicrobial susceptibility testing rely on turbidimetry that is evident only after several days of incubation. The lengthy time of the assay can delay clinical treatment. Here, we proposed a single-cell level rapid system based on a microfluidic chip. The detection period of 30 min to 2 h was significantly shorter than the conventional turbidity-based method. To promote detection efficiency, 16 independent channels were designed, permitting the simultaneous screening of 16 drugs in the microfluidic chip. Prepositioning of drugs in the chip permitted prolonged transportation and storage. This may allow for the widespread use of the novel system, particularly in the regions where medical facilities are scarce. The growth curves were reported rapidly through a custom code in Matlab after tracking and photographing the bacteria during microscopy examination. The capability of the proposed system was validated by antimicrobial susceptibility testing trials with standard strains. The system provides a potentially useful detection tool for drug-resistant bacteria.

Sensing of Antibiotic–Bacteria Interactions

“…Droplet-based microfluidic techniques attract attention as possible solution to this problem [ 139 ]. Emerging microfluidic platforms tend to make droplet-based AST suitable for clinical use [ 132 , 140 , 141 , 142 ].…”

Electromicrofluidic Device for Interference-Free Rapid Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing of Escherichia coli from Real Samples

“…A screen-printed electrode system modified with graphitized mesoporous carbon (GMC) was used for testing [28]. GMC is a high surface area carbon material that helps sensitively detect E. coli [29,30]. The microfluidic channel was designed and integrated with screen-printed electrodes.…”