Smart Multiplex Point-of-Care Platform for Simultaneous Drug Monitoring

Duygu Beduk, Tutku Beduk, José Ilton De Oliveira Filho, Abdellatif Ait Lahcen, Ebru Aldemir, Emine Guler Celik, Khaled N. Salama, Suna Timur

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

21 Scopus citations

Abstract

Recently, illicit drug use has become more widespread and is linked to problems with crime and public health. These drugs disrupt consciousness, affecting perceptions and feelings. Combining stimulants and depressants to suppress the effect of drugs has become the most common reason for drug overdose deaths. On-site platforms for illicit-drug detection have gained an important role in dealing, without any excess equipment, long process, and training, with drug abuse and drug trafficking. Consequently, the development of rapid, sensitive, noninvasive, and reliable multiplex drug-detecting platforms has become a major necessity. In this study, a multiplex laser-scribed graphene (LSG) sensing platform with one counter, one reference, and three working electrodes was developed for rapid and sensitive electrochemical detection of amphetamine (AMP), cocaine (COC), and benzodiazepine (BZD) simultaneously in saliva samples. The multidetection sensing system was combined with a custom-made potentiostat to achieve a complete point-of-care (POC) platform. Smartphone integration was achieved by a customized application to operate, display, and send data. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first multiplex LSG-based electrochemical platform designed for illicit-drug detection with a custom-made potentiostat device to build a complete POC platform. Each working electrode was optimized with standard solutions of AMP, COC, and BZD in the concentration range of 1.0 pg/mL-500 ng/mL. The detection limit of each illicit drug was calculated as 4.3 ng/mL for AMP, 9.7 ng/mL for BZD, and 9.0 ng/mL for COC. Healthy and MET (methamphetamine) patient saliva samples were used for the clinical study. The multiplex LSG sensor was able to detect target analytes in real saliva samples successfully. This multiplex detection device serves the role of a practical and affordable alternative to conventional drug-detection methods by combining multiple drug detections in one portable platform.
Original languageEnglish (US)
JournalACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 27 2023

Bibliographical note

KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2023-07-31
Acknowledgements: The authors would like to thank the Ege University Central Research Testing and Analysis Laboratory Application and Research Center (EGE-MATAL) for providing the equipment and the Republic of Turkey, Ministry of Development (Project Grant No: 2016K121190); Ege University; and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Saudi Arabia and KAUST Smart-Health Initiative for the financial support. This work was also partly supported by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK, Project Grant No: 221Z083).

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Materials Science

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