Hair Cortisol Measurement by an Automated Method

Area of Science:

• Endocrinology
• Analytical Chemistry
• Forensic Science

Background:

• Cortisol, a key stress hormone, is increasingly measured in hair for long-term stress assessment.
• Existing methods for hair cortisol analysis are often manual, time-consuming, and labor-intensive.
• There is a need for a more efficient and standardized procedure for hair cortisol quantification.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate the first automated procedure for hair cortisol measurement.
• To establish reference ranges for hair cortisol concentration in healthy individuals.
• To assess the impact of hair dye on cortisol levels.

Main Methods:

• Development of an automated chemiluminescent immunoassay procedure for hair cortisol extraction and measurement.
• Analysis of hair samples from 286 individuals using a Siemens Immulite 2000 analyzer.
• Determination of normal reference values from 213 healthy individuals with low stress levels.

Main Results:

• The automated method demonstrated adequate analytical performance for hair cortisol measurement.
• Median hair cortisol concentration was 55 pg/mg in low-stress individuals and 250 pg/mg in stressed individuals.
• No significant difference in hair cortisol levels was found between subjects with and without hair dye (p=0.128).

Conclusions:

• The developed automated procedure offers a reliable and efficient method for hair cortisol analysis.
• This method can aid in the assessment of chronic stress and physiological responses.
• The findings suggest that hair dye does not significantly interfere with hair cortisol measurements using this automated technique.