A Novel Molecular Imprinted Polymers-Based Lateral Flow Strip for Sensitive Detection of Thiodiglycol

Traditional detection of thiodiglycol (TDG), a metabolic marker for sulfur mustard poisoning, requires not only professional operators, but also expensive reagents and large instruments. Herein, we developed a novel molecular imprinted polymers (MIPs)-based lateral flow assay (LFA) strategy for the quick, sensitive, and selective detection of TDG. Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), MIPs, and metallothioneins (MTs) were respectively loaded on the conjugate pad, test line (T line) and control line (C line). After adding TDG, AuNPs on the conjugate pad reacted with TDG through the Au-S bond first. Then, under the action of capillary force, the conjugates of TDG and AuNPs were trapped by the MIPs as they traveled to the T line, and the residual AuNPs bound with the MTs on the C line, exhibiting two obvious red bands on T line and C line, respectively. In contrast, a single red band could be observed on C line without TDG. This method exhibited a wide linear range from 10.0 pg/mL to 10,000.0 ng/mL and its limit of detection (LOD) was as low as 0.41 pg/mL. This method was successfully utilized to detect TDG in human urine, presenting significant potential in the point-of-care testing of TDG in clinical samples of the sulfur mustard poisoning patients.