Development of a High-Accuracy, Low-Cost, and Portable Fluorometer with Smartphone Application for the Detection of Urinary Albumin towards the Early Screening of Chronic Kidney and Renal Diseases

Visarute Pinrod; Wireeya Chawjiraphan; Khoonsake Segkhoonthod; Kriangkai Hanchaisri; Phornpol Tantiwathanapong; Preedee Pinpradup; Thitirat Putnin; Dechnarong Pimalai; Kiatnida Treerattrakoon; Ubon Cha'on; Sirirat Anutrakulchai; Deanpen Japrung

doi:10.3390/bios13090876

Development of a High-Accuracy, Low-Cost, and Portable Fluorometer with Smartphone Application for the Detection of Urinary Albumin towards the Early Screening of Chronic Kidney and Renal Diseases

Biosensors (Basel). 2023 Sep 8;13(9):876. doi: 10.3390/bios13090876.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ National Nanotechnology Center (NANOTEC), National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA), Thailand Science Park, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand.
² Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry, Technology and Innovation Centre, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G1 1RD, UK.
³ Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand.
⁴ Chronic Kidney Disease Prevention in the Northeast of Thailand (CKDNET), Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand.
⁵ Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand.

Abstract

This study presents the development of a portable fluorometer with a smartphone application designed to facilitate the early screening of chronic kidney and renal diseases by enabling the sensitive detection of urinary albumin. Utilizing a fluorescence-based aptasensor, the device achieved a linear calibration curve (0.001-1.5 mg/mL) with a linearity of up to 0.98022 and a detection limit of 0.203 µg/mL for human serum albumin (HSA). The analysis of 130 urine samples demonstrated comparable performance between this study's fluorometer, a commercial fluorometer, and the standard automated method. These findings validate the feasibility of the portable fluorometer and aptasensor combination as a reliable instrument for the sensitive and specific measurement of HSA in urine samples. Moreover, the fluorometer's portability offers potential applications in portable point-of-care testing, enhancing its utility in clinical settings for early disease screening.

Keywords: albuminuria; aptasensor; chronic kidney disease; fluorescence quenching; portable fluorometer; renal disease.

MeSH terms

Calibration
Chronic Disease
Humans
Kidney
Mobile Applications*
Serum Albumin, Human
Smartphone*

Substances

Serum Albumin, Human

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the National Nanotechnology Center (NANOTEC), the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA), Thailand (grant No. P2251069), Program Management Unit C (PMUC), Thailand Science Research and Innovation (grant No.P2051430), Program Management Unit B (PMUB), Thailand Science Research and Innovation (grant No. P2350026), and Health Systems Research Institute (HSRI), Ministry of Public Health, Thailand (grant No. P2350178).