In this test, metabolically active bacteria in the presence of D2O will take in deuterium from D2O via NADPH and add D into biomolecules to form carbon-deuterium (C-D) bonds. The cells containing C-D bonds show a distinguishable Raman band shifted from C-H vibration, and the band can serve as a distinct biomarker for the metabolic activity of a single cell. In the presence of antibiotics, susceptible bacteria do not show this band due to antibiotic inhibition of metabolic activity. The test takes 3 hrs for urine samples and 21 hrs for blood samples
CAS news release, April 29, 2021
29-4 CAS Suzhou Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Technology develops antibiotic resistance test based on Raman spectroscopy