PortaIodine™
Rapid Field Test
for
Iodine in Urine
and
Aqueous Salt Solutions
Iodine deficiency is the single most common cause of preventable mental retardation and brain damage in the world. It causes goiters and decreases the production of hormones vital to growth and development. Iodine deficiency affects more than 400 million people in the world, yet there is no simple point-of-care (POC) test available. The need for a simple, inexpensive, semi-quantitative iodine test device for urine screening is acute and broadly based throughout the world. A simple POC test for monitoring iodine content in salt is also equally desirable.
PortaScience has developed the prototype of a rapid field test for iodine (PortaIodine™) by combining a well-known enzymatic reaction and an old detection amplification method. The user simply has to introduce a sample of urine or salt solution into the disposable device. The sample passes through a pretreatment filter, into a mixing chamber containing dried reagents, and finally into a read well. Color develops after 5 minutes. A semi-quantitative read is made visually by comparing to a color chart. For a quantitative measurement, a hand-held instrument can be used.
The key advantages of this unique, patented product include:
- In-House Convenience:
- Can be used at home for monitoring iodine levels or in the field for testing salt solutions.
- Fast Results
- Typically, results in approximately 5 minutes.
- Easy to use:
- Requires less than 1 minute of hands-on time.
- Additional Applications
- Health food, nutritional, and aquarium markets.