Rapid and Accurate Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing Using Label-Free Electrical Impedance-Based Microfluidic Platform

Antimicrobial resistance has become a serious threat to the global public health. Accurate and rapid antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) allows evidence-based prescribing of antibiotics to improve patient care and clinical outcomes. Current culture-based AST assays are inherently limited by the doubling time of bacterial reproduction, which require at least 24 h to have a decisive result. Herein, a label-free electrical impedance-based microfluidic platform designed to expedite and streamline AST procedure for clinical practice is presented. Following a 30-min exposure of bacterial samples to antibiotics, the presented high-throughput, single-bacterium level impedance characterization platform enables a rapid 2-min AST assay. The platform facilitates accurate analysis of individual bacterial viability, as indicated by changes in electrical characteristics, thereby enabling the determination of antimicrobial resistance. Moreover, the potential clinical applicability of this platform is demonstrated by testing different E. coli strains against five antibiotics, yielding 100% categorical agreements compared to standard culture methods. A rapid and accurate electrical impedance-based microfluidic platform is designed to expedite and streamline antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) for clinical practice. Following a 30-minute bacterial exposure to antibiotics, the presented high-throughput, single-bacterium level analysis platform enables a 2-minute AST assay, which has made significant progress compared to the conventional methods that often require an incubation time of about 24 hours.image