Naked-eye detection as a universal approach to lower the limit of detection of enzyme-linked immunoassays

Erin F. O’Connor, Sureyya Paterson, Roberto de la Rica

Colorimetric biosensors for the detection of analytes with the naked eye are required in environmental monitoring, point-of-care diagnostics, and analyses in resources constrained settings, where detection instruments may not be available. However, instrument-based detection methods are usually more adequate for detecting small variations in the signal compared to naked-eye detection schemes, and consequently the limit of detection of the latter is usually higher than the former. Here, we demonstrate that the limit of detection of colorimetric enzyme-linked immunoassays can be decreased several orders of magnitude when using naked-eye detection instead of a spectrophotometer for detecting the signal. The key step to lower the limit of detection is adding a small volume of chromogenic substrate during the signal generation step. This generates highly colored solutions that can be easily visualized with the naked eye and recorded with the camera of a mobile phone. The proposed method does not require expensive equipment or complex protocols to enhance the signal, and therefore it is a universal approach to lower the limit of detection of colorimetric enzyme-linked immunoassays.