Novel applications of nonwood cellulose for blood typing assays.

Paper-based microfluidics devices can create a new healthcare model. Cellulose is carbohydrate polymer biocompatible and hydrophilic. These characteristics enhance the development of user-friendly diagnostic devices, but the link between paper manufacturing process and performance of the devices is still unclear. Previous studies focused on either commercial papers or lab papers from wood-cellulose fibers, with different basis-weight. This work introduces the effect of refining process and lab paper from nonwood-cellulose fibers, focusing on sisal fibers to overcome the aforementioned challenge. Structural characteristics of paper, such as basis-weight and degree of refining, are optimized and correlated with blood typing test resolution. Unrefined sisal paper of 50 g/m2 and 100 g/m2 basis-weight exhibit a higher gray intensity level than refined paper, and also maximal capillary rise and a pore size suitable for blood grouping tests. Two different blood types were evaluated with results consistent with the traditional methods, testifying the usefulness of this methodology. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater 107B: 1533-1541, 2019.