Dual-modal nanoplatform integrated with smartphone for hierarchical diabetic detection

On-site screening of diabetes and precise diagnosis of diabetic complications may provide a conduit for early intervention and disease burden reduction. However, stratified metabolic analysis needs designed materials for colorimetric detection of targeted biomarkers and direct metabolic fingerprinting of the native blood. Here, an advanced dual-modal nanoplatform is constructed based on PdPtAu alloys, which serve both as the nanoenzymes in colorimetric sensing for targeted metabolite quantitation and as matrix in laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry for untargeted metabolic fingerprinting. The platform achieved rapid glucose quantitation toward point-of-care testing of 27 participants and identified diabetic retinopathy from diabetic population with a sensitivity and specificity of 84.6%. We further assessed the generalizability of the nanoplatform for real-case applications, through the captured digital images and computing resources equipped in smartphones. The results advance the design of material-based platforms for stratified metabolic analysis and display promise to fit in the current hierarchical medical system in practice.

Automated summary

This study constructed an advanced dual-modal nanoplatform based on PdPtAu alloys, which enables colorimetric detection of targeted metabolites and mass spectrometry analysis of untargeted metabolic fingerprints. The platform achieved rapid glucose quantitation and identified diabetic retinopathy with high sensitivity and specificity. The use of digital images and computing resources on smartphones demonstrated the potential applicability of this platform in real-case scenarios.