Label-free fiber optical biosensor has a promising prospect in “point-of-care” (POC) test for disease diagnosis. A sensitive label-free fiber-optic based immunosensor for quantitative Cardiac Troponin I (cTn-I) testing has been proposed by using a phase-shifted Bragg grating directly inscribed in microfiber. The fine notch signal in the grating spectrum remarkably enhances the ability of the sensor in detecting an extremely small amount of immune binding events, which is essential for AMI diagnosis at very early stage. A cTn-I concentration of 6 pg/mL is enough to arouse the response of the sensor with high specificity. According to the log-linear range of the concentration between 0.1-10 ng/mL, measurements with shorter detection time are analyzed to demonstrate the potential of the sensor in the fast screen of the high-risk patients. The proposed sensing probe is compact and feasible, easy to handle, fabricate and network, making itself a competitive candidate in POC diagnosis of AMI.
|