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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.
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.
Abstract:
A rapid electrochemical immunoassay method was developed to detect and measure stress biomarkers (cortisol and cortisone) in two biological samples (Zebrafish whole-body and artificial saliva). This methodology utilizes an immunoassay approach taking advantage of the lock and key mechanism that is related to the antibody-antigen interaction depending on the reliable immobilization of the antibody labelled with ferrocene tags (Ab-Fc) on a modified tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) electrode using electrochemical instrumentation to build a POC platform. The limit of detection (LOD) obtained for this biosensor was 1.03 pg ml-1 for cortisol and 0.68 pg ml-1 for cortisone, respectively. The correlation coefficient was 0.9852 and 0.9841 for cortisol and cortisone, respectively with a linear concentration from (0-50 ng ml-1) which covers the standard levels of stress hormones in both selected biological samples. The incubation time was investigated and 30 min was found to be the optimum incubation time. This time would be acceptable for the POC system as total process time can be determined within 35 min.

