Development of microfluidic based telemedicine for insulin detection

This article describes a prototype microfluidic system for insulin detection and exchanging the results digitally with physicians located off-site. The integrated polydimethysiloxane (PDMS) microfluidic system uses two pneumatic micropumps and one micromixer for chemiluminescent immunoassay, and a developed communications infrastructure for transferring the digital information from the assay site to a remote place for assistance by a trained medical professional. The expert can then directly provide control and diagnosis via the Internet. The insulin detection protocol is based on coupling the highly specific double-antibody sandwich immunoassay with the sensitive chemiluminescence of Luminol-Hydrogen Peroxide (H₂O₂). The peak value of the luminous intensity, recorded automatically by a photometer, is used as an indicator for the insulin concentration of the sample tested. The calibration curves of the insulin measurement were quantified and the insulin detection limit meets the common requirement of current clinical studies of diabetes. The combination of PDMS microfluidic devices and a communication strategy for exchanging information obtained from the assays with off-site diagnosticians offers new opportunities for point-of-care type health monitoring, especially in rural areas where patients must travel great distances to physicians to obtain diagnostic information that might be obtained more cost effectively by local, less-trained personnel.