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RESEARCH ARTICLE

Microstereolithography-fabricated microneedles for

fluid sampling of histamine-contaminated tuna

1
2
3
2
Ryan D. Boehm , Panupong Jaipan , Kai-Hung Yang , Thomas N. Stewart and Roger J. Narayan 1,2*
1 Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of North Carolina and North Carolina State University, Box
7115, Raleigh NC 27695, USA
2 Department of Material Science Engineering, North Carolina State University, Box 7907, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA
3 Mercury Science Inc., Raleigh, NC 27607, USA

Abstract: A custom-designed microneedle sampling system was prepared using dynamic mask microstereolithography;
this sampling system was used for determination of histamine content in fresh, histamine-spiked, and spoiled tuna flesh.
Lateral flow (test strip) assays were successfully utilized in the microneedle sampling system to assess histamine con-
tent. Good agreement was noted between data obtained from the microneedle sampling system and a commercially
available histamine detection kit. A discrepancy was noted in the results from the microneedle sampling system and the
commercially available histamine detection kit at low (negative) levels of histamine. There was an improvement in the
agreement between the microneedle sampling system and the commercially available histamine detection kit at higher
histamine levels. The results, which showed an improvement in the test duration and the amount of reagent needed for
histamine detection, indicate the promise of printed microneedle sampling systems for histamine detection in seafood
samples and other types of food testing.
Keywords: microneedles, dynamic mask microstereolithography, histamine, lateral flow, tuna

*Correspondence to: Roger J. Narayan, Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of North Carolina and North Carolina
State University, Box 7115, Raleigh NC 27695, USA; Email: roger_narayan@msn.com

Received: November 18, 2015; Accepted: December 22, 2015; Published Online: December 30, 2015
Citation: Boehm R D, Jaipan P, Yang K-H, et al., 2016, Microstereolithography-fabricated microneedles for fluid sampling of hista-
mine-contaminated tuna. International Journal of Bioprinting, vol.2(1): 72–80. http://dx.doi.org/10.18063/IJB.2016.01.010

1. Introduction histamine is naturally present in humans and humans
F to handle small amounts of consumed histamine,
possess a protective mechanism in the digestive tract
ood poisoning is a concern when consuming
fish that has been exposed to elevated tempera-
ingestion of tainted fish with high levels of histamine
tures for extended periods of time. Histamine
fish poisoning is one of the most common types of may overwhelm the protective mechanism and result
in histamine intoxication, which resembles an allergic
seafood consumption-related illnesses in the United reaction [6,7] . Histamine levels that are greater than or
[1]
States . Histamine fish poisoning (HFP), which is equal to 500 mg/kg of fish tissue are noted to be toxic
[8]
sometimes referred to as scrombroid fish poisoning, is when ingested ; the United States Food & Drug Ad-
associated with mishandling of the Scrombridae fam- ministration has set the acceptability limit at 50 mg/kg .
[9]
ily of fish (e.g., tuna and mahi-mahi), which have high It is concerning to note that fish with unacceptable
[2]
levels of histidine in their muscles . A biogenic am- levels of histamine may not exhibit a different ap-
ine known as histamine is formed during bacterial de- pearance or emit a different odor than fish that has not
carboxylation of histidine in the raw fish [3–5] . Although been compromised [8,10] . Furthermore, heating fish to

Microstereolithography-fabricated microneedles for fluid sampling of histamine-contaminated tuna. © 2016 Ryan D. Boehm, et al. This is an Open Access
article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/),
permitting all non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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