Magnetic Susceptibility-Based Detection of Fusobacterium Nucleatum in Human Saliva

This letter presents an innovative method for rapid and precise measurement of bacteria in liquid samples for point-of-care testing. The method utilizes the bacteria concentration-dependent ac susceptibility of magnetic nanoparticles, allowing for efficient and practical bacterial detection. The ac susceptibility of the magnetic nanoparticles/bacteria aggregate exhibits a decrease proportional to the bacteria concentration, attributed to the influence of bacteria on the magnetic coupling between the magnetic nanoparticles and magnetic dynamic response of the aggregate. To validate the performance of our method, we conducted measurements on Fusobacterium nucleatum samples obtained from both healthy individuals and cancer patients. The results demonstrated a robust correlation (correlation factor up to 0.94) between our measurements and the results obtained through quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) analysis, highlighting the high precision and accuracy of our method in quantifying bacteria, which is comparable to a qPCR system. The simplified apparatus not only reduces costs but also saves time by eliminating the need for DNA amplification of short segments, making it a promising alternative for rapid and precise bacterial measurement in point-of-care testing.