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Frequent Tail-tip Blood Sampling in Mice for the Assessment of Pulsatile Luteinizing Hormone Secretion
Published on: July 4, 2018
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Measuring luteinising hormone pulsatility with a robotic aptamer-enabled electrochemical reader
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.
Nature Communications
|February 22, 2019
Summary
Researchers developed a robotic electrochemical system using DNA aptamers to measure luteinizing hormone (LH) pulsatility, improving reproductive disorder diagnosis. This advancement offers a faster, more accessible method for assessing hormone levels.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical Engineering
- Reproductive Endocrinology
- Biosensor Technology
Background:
- Pulsatile luteinizing hormone (LH) secretion is crucial for normal reproductive function.
- Current LH pulsatility assessment methods involve invasive blood sampling and costly immunochemical analyses, limiting clinical utility.
- Accurate LH monitoring is essential for diagnosing various reproductive disorders.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and validate a novel electrochemical analysis system for determining LH pulsatility.
- To create a rapid, sensitive, and repeatable method for measuring LH concentration profiles.
- To assess the potential of this technology for transforming reproductive disorder diagnostics and enabling real-time monitoring.
Main Methods:
- Development of a Robotic APTamer-enabled Electrochemical Reader (RAPTER) system.
- Identification of specific DNA aptamers for luteinizing hormone (LH) using SELEX (Selective Evolution of Ligands by Exponential Enrichment).
- Integration of aptamers into electrochemical aptamer-based (E-AB) sensors on a robotic platform for LH detection.
- Application of Bayesian Spectrum Analysis to determine LH pulsatility in patient cohorts.
Main Results:
- The RAPTER system successfully identified DNA aptamers with high specificity for LH.
- Electrochemical aptamer-based (E-AB) sensors demonstrated rapid, sensitive, and repeatable LH concentration measurements.
- LH pulsatility was accurately determined in three distinct patient cohorts using the developed system.
Conclusions:
- The developed RAPTER system offers a significant advancement for assessing LH pulsatility.
- This technology has the potential to revolutionize the clinical management of reproductive disorders.
- Future development could enable real-time in vivo hormone monitoring, further enhancing patient care.
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