Pressed Lateral Flow Assay Strips for Flow Delay-Induced Signal Enhancement in Lateral Flow Assay Strips

Abstract

This paper proposes that the signal intensity of a lateral flow assay (LFA) strip can be increased by pressing the top of the strip, effectively reducing its flow rate. The reduced flow rate allows more time for antigen–antibody interactions to occur, resulting in increased signal intensity and an improved detection limit. To assess the potential of the pressed LFA (pLFA) strip, C-reactive protein (CRP) diluted in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) and serum is detected, affording signal enhancement and a lowered limit of detection. Additionally, to show that the signal enhancement by pressure-induced flow delay applies to existing LFA products, commercially available COVID-19 antigen test strips are pressed, and signal enhancement is observed. Lastly, we show that the signal intensity of COVID-19 LFA kits can be increased by approximately two-fold at maximum by applying pressure on top of the manufactured product. This study suggests that pressed LFA strips can be used to reduce the chances of determining ambiguous signals as false-negative results and can potentially improve the detection sensitivity. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]