A portable brightfield and fluorescence microscope toward automated malarial parasitemia quantification in thin blood smears

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 17; no. 4; p. e0266441
• Main Authors: Gordon, Paul D, De Ville, Courtney, Sacchettini, James C, Coté, Gerard L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 07-04-2022; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Biochemistry; Biology and Life Sciences; Biomedical engineering; Biophysics; Blood; Blood cells; Design; Development and progression; Diagnosis; Diagnostic systems; Engineering and Technology; Erythrocytes; Erythrocytes - parasitology; Field of view; Fluorescence; Fluorescence microscopy; Fluorescent Dyes; Fluorescent indicators; Humans; Infections; Laboratories; Localization; Malaria; Malaria - blood; Malaria - diagnosis; Malaria - parasitology; Malaria, Falciparum - diagnosis; Malaria, Falciparum - parasitology; Medicine and Health Sciences; Methods; Microscopy; Microscopy, Fluorescence; Monitoring; Optics; Parasitemia; Parasitemia - blood; Parasitemia - diagnosis; Parasitemia - parasitology; Parasites; Patients; Plasmodium falciparum - isolation & purification; Portability; Remote regions; Research and Analysis Methods; Vector-borne diseases; United States; United States > US; Texas
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0266441

Malaria is often most endemic in remote regions where diagnostic microscopy services are unavailable. In such regions, the use of rapid diagnostic tests fails to quantify parasitemia measurements which reflect the concentration of Plasmodium parasites in the bloodstream. Thus, novel diagnostic and monitoring technologies capable of providing such information could improve the quality of treatment, monitoring, and eradication efforts. A low-cost, portable microscope for gathering quantitative parasitemia data from fluorescently stained thin blood smears is presented. The system employs bimodal imaging using components optimized for cost savings, system robustness, and optical performance. The microscope is novel for its use of monochromatic visible illumination paired with a long working distance singlet aspheric objective lens that can image both traditionally mounted and cartridge-based blood smears. Eight dilutions of red blood cells containing laboratory cultured wild-type P. falciparum were used to create thin smears which were stained with SYBR Green-1 fluorescent dye. Two subsequent images are captured for each field-of-view, with brightfield images providing cell counts and fluorescence images providing parasite localization data. Results indicate the successful resolution of sub-micron sized parasites, and parasitemia measurements from the prototype microscope display linear correlation with measurements from a benchtop microscope with a limit of detection of 0.18 parasites per 100 red blood cells.