Electrochemiluminescent Molecular Sensor for Point of Care Testing for Homocysteine Measurement

Abstract

Homocysteine (Hcy) is a naturally occurring, sulfur-containing amino acid produced from demethylation of methionine, and an essential amino acid found in both animal and plant proteins. The level of plasma Hcy between 5 and 15 μM is generally considered normal. An elevated level of Hcy is, however, strongly linked to cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s disease, neural tube defects, and osteoporosis. Therefore a routine, easy-to-usable determination of Hcy is highly desirable. In the talk, an electrochemiluminescent (ECL) molecular sensor for simple Hcy determination will be discussed. Recently, we developed supramolecular probes which recognize Hcy in the solution by producing light emission under ECL process. The synthesized molecular sensor successfully monitors the level of Hcy in 99.9% aqueous media with a linear correlation between 0–40 µM. The method suggests a point-of-care testing of the Hcy level based on ECL analysis, and it is potentially useful for a routine, pre-cautious, and strip-based diagnosis for the cardiovascular diseases.