Electrochemical immunoassay for the detection of stress biomarkers

Jwan O Abdulsattar1, Gillian M Greenway2, Jay D Wadhawan3

  • 1Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Mustansiriyah University, Baghdad, Iraq.

Heliyon
|March 27, 2020
PubMed

Insights

A new electrochemical immunoassay detects stress biomarkers cortisol and cortisone in Zebrafish and saliva. This rapid point-of-care (POC) platform offers sensitive detection within 35 minutes.

Area of Science:

  • Electrochemistry
  • Biomarker Detection
  • Biosensor Technology

Background:

  • Stress biomarkers like cortisol and cortisone are crucial indicators of physiological stress.
  • Accurate and rapid detection methods are needed for timely intervention and research.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To develop a rapid electrochemical immunoassay for detecting cortisol and cortisone.
  • To establish a point-of-care (POC) platform for stress biomarker analysis.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized an immunoassay with ferrocene-tagged antibodies (Ab-Fc) immobilized on a modified ITO electrode.
  • Employed electrochemical instrumentation for sensitive detection.
  • Validated the method using Zebrafish whole-body and artificial saliva samples.

Main Results:

  • Achieved limits of detection (LOD) of 1.03 pg/mL for cortisol and 0.68 pg/mL for cortisone.
  • Demonstrated high correlation coefficients (0.9852 for cortisol, 0.9841 for cortisone) within a linear range of 0-50 ng/mL.
  • Optimized incubation time to 30 minutes, enabling a total process time of 35 minutes for the POC system.

Conclusions:

  • The developed electrochemical immunoassay provides a sensitive and rapid method for stress biomarker detection.
  • The POC platform is suitable for analyzing cortisol and cortisone in biological samples like Zebrafish and saliva.
  • This technology has potential applications in environmental monitoring and clinical diagnostics.