Chennai, April 28 || A team of Indian researchers has developed a new biosensor platform that can test and diagnose preeclampsia -- is a life-threatening complication caused by hypertension -- among pregnant women in 30 minutes.
Preeclampsia, which typically develops after 20 weeks of pregnancy, affects 2-8 per cent of pregnancies worldwide.
While traditional methods to detect preeclampsia are time-consuming, and require huge infrastructure and trained personnel, the new platform offers rapid, on-site, and affordable screening at an early stage. Timely treatment is crucial to minimise both maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality rates.
The team led by the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT) Madras, along with the Vellore Institute of Technology developed the Plasmonic Fibre Optic Absorbance Biosensor (P-FAB) technology using fibre optics sensor technology.
They focussed on Placental growth factor (PlGF) -- an angiogenic blood biomarker used widely for the diagnosis of preeclampsia.
“The P-FAB technology was able to detect PlGF at a femtomolar level using polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) based U-bent polymeric optical fiber (POF) sensor probes,” said Prof. V.V. Raghavendra Sai, Biosensors Laboratory, Department of Applied Mechanics and Biomedical Engineering, IIT Madras.
The ‘PlGF’ biomarker peaks at 28 to 32 weeks in normal pregnancy but in the case of women with pre-eclampsia, it decreases by 2 to 3 times after 28 weeks of pregnancy.