The analysis of tear constituents at point-of-care settings has a potential for early diagnosis of ocular disorders such as dry eye disease, low-cost screening, and surveillance of at-risk subjects. However, current minimally-invasive rapid tear analysis systems for point-of-care settings have been limited to assessment of osmolarity or inflammatory markers and cannot differentiate between dry eye subclassifications. We study portable microfluidic systems that allow quantitative analysis of electrolytes in the tear fluid that is suited for point-of-care settings. The microfluidic system consists of a capillary tube for sample collection, a reservoir for sample dilution, and a paper-based microfluidic device for electrolyte analysis. The microfluidic system allows for the detection of early-stage dry eye, differential diagnosis of dry eye sub-types, and their severity staging.

Jiang, N., Tansukawat, N.D., Gonzalez-Macia, L., Ates, H.C., Dincer, C., Guder, F., Tasoglu, S., Yetisen, A.K. Low-Cost Optical Assays for Point-of-Care Diagnosis in Resource-Limited Settings. ACS Sensors, 6 (6), 2108-2124 (2021) pdf