Measuring luteinising hormone pulsatility with a robotic aptamer-enabled electrochemical reader
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Updated: Jan 28, 2026

Frequent Tail-tip Blood Sampling in Mice for the Assessment of Pulsatile Luteinizing Hormone Secretion
Published on: July 4, 2018
Shaolin Liang1,2,3, Andrew B Kinghorn1, Margaritis Voliotis4
1School of Biomedical Sciences, LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
Abstract:
Normal reproductive functioning is critically dependent on pulsatile secretion of luteinising hormone (LH). Assessment of LH pulsatility is important for the clinical diagnosis of reproductive disorders, but current methods are hampered by frequent blood sampling coupled to expensive serial immunochemical analysis. Here, we report the development and application of a Robotic APTamer-enabled Electrochemical Reader (RAPTER) electrochemical analysis system to determine LH pulsatility. Through selective evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX), we identify DNA aptamers that bind specifically to LH and not to related hormones. The aptamers are integrated into electrochemical aptamer-based (E-AB) sensors on a robotic platform. E-AB enables rapid, sensitive and repeatable determination of LH concentration profiles. Bayesian Spectrum Analysis is applied to determine LH pulsatility in three distinct patient cohorts. This technology has the potential to transform the clinical care of patients with reproductive disorders and could be developed to allow real-time in vivo hormone monitoring.
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