Detection of urinary tract infections on lab-on-chip device by measuring photons emitted from ATP bioluminescence.

A microfluidic Lab-on-chip (LOC) platform for in vitro detecting Urinary Tract Infections (UTI) for clinical diagnostic applications has been built. Based on one commercial adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP) assay kit, one chip designed before was applied to detect UTI with the help of photomultiplier tube (PMT) and quantitative determination was made by measuring the photons of light emitted in the bioluminescent reaction of ATP with the enzyme luciferase. The chip had been tested and materials had been well prepared before testing the PMT detecting system. The data from PMT were visualized by the Labview™, appearing good linearity between voltage values and the concentration of the ATP ranging from 2×10(-12) M to 2×10(-8) M. Fresh urine sample with different amounts of Escherichia coli had been measured by the system, appearing good linearity trend between the voltage values and number of the E.coli. This study successfully expressed the concept of measuring ATP directly in the urine to quickly and accurately detect UTI on a microfluidic chip.