On-chip type cation-exchange chromatography with ferrocene-labeled anti-hemoglobin antibody and electrochemical detector for determination of hemoglobin A1c level

Rapid detection of glycosylated hemoglobin levels by a microchip liquid chromatography system in gradient elution mode

BACKGROUND

The determination of glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) is crucial for diabetes diagnosis and can provide more substantial results than the simple measurement of glycemia. While there is a lack of simple methods for the determination of HbA1c using a point-of-care test (POCT) compared to glycemia measurement. In particular, high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is considered the current gold standard for determining HbA1c levels. However, commercial HPLC systems usually have some sort of disadvantages such as bulky size, high-cost and need for qualified operators. Therefore, there is an urgent demand to develop a portable, and fast HbA1c detection system consuming fewer reagents.

RESULTS

We present a novel microchip that integrates a micromixer, passive injector, packed column and detection cell. The integrated microchip, in which all the microstructures were formed in the CNC machining center through micro-milling, is small in size (30 mm × 70 mm × 10 mm), and can withstand 1600 psi of liquid pressure. The integrated design is beneficial to reduce the band broadening caused by dead volume. Based on the microchip, a microchip liquid chromatography (LC) system was built and applied to the analysis of HbA1c. The separation conditions of HbA1c in blood calibrator samples were optimized using the microchip LC system. Samples containing four levels of HbA1c were completely separated within 2 min in optimal gradient conditions, with an inaccuracy (<3.2 %), a coefficient of variation (c.v. < 2.1 %) and a correlation coefficient (R2 = 0.993), indicating excellent separation efficiency and reproducibility.

SIGNIFICANCE

The POCT of HbA1c is critical for diabetes diagnosis. The microchip chromatography system was developed for HbA1c determination, which contains an integrated microchip and works under a gradient elution. It surpasses existing chip technology in terms of separation performance and detection speed, providing a competitive advantage for POCT of HbA1c. It is considered one important step for realizing efficient portable systems for timely and accurate diabetes diagnosis.

Chip-based ion chromatography (chip-IC) with a sensitive five-electrode conductivity detector for the simultaneous detection of multiple ions in drinking water

The emerging need for accurate, efficient, inexpensive, and multiparameter monitoring of water quality has led to interest in the miniaturization of benchtop chromatography systems. This paper reports a chip-based ion chromatography (chip-IC) system in which the microvalves, sample channel, packed column, and conductivity detector are all integrated on a polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) chip. A laser-based bonding technique was developed to guarantee simultaneous robust sealing between the homogeneous and heterogeneous interfaces. A five-electrode-based conductivity detector was presented to improve the sensitivity for nonsuppressed anion detection. Common anions (F^-, Cl^-, NO₃ ^-, and SO₄ ^2-) were separated in less than 8 min, and a detection limit (LOD) of 0.6 mg L^-1 was achieved for SO₄ ^2-. Tap water was also analyzed using the proposed chip-IC system, and the relative deviations of the quantified concentration were less than 10% when compared with that a commercial IC system.

Impedance measurement system for automatic determination of glycated hemoglobin

In this study, an automatic glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) impedance measurement system (AHMS) is developed for the detection of HbA_1c. The proposed device removes some of the drawbacks of common instruments for HbA_1c detection (i.e., large, expensive, difficult to operate) by detecting the ratio of HbA_1c to Hb. The method is label-free and requires only a small sample volume; no additional reagents are required. The manpower consumption and bulk of the instrument are also reduced. The method provides a simple way to analyze impedance deviation and effectively reduces the effort required by the operator. The ratios of HbA_1c to Hb (4%-7%) are well distinguished, and the experiment is used to build a database for AHMS. To check the reliability of the proposed system, a sample test using three different ratios of HbA_1c is applied in this study. The sample test uses HbA_1c to Hb ratios of 4.7%, 5.6%, and 6.8%, and the determined experimental values are 4.93%, 5.8%, and 6.83%, respectively. The sample test has an accuracy of approximately 96.99%. Based on these results, the proposed system for detecting HbA_1c through protein coverage is both effective and feasible.

Optical detection of glucose and glycated hemoglobin using etched fiber Bragg gratings coated with functionalized reduced graphene oxide

An enhanced optical detection of D-glucose and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c ) has been established in this study using etched fiber Bragg gratings (eFBG) coated with aminophenylboronic acid (APBA)-functionalized reduced graphene oxide (RGO). The read out, namely the shift in Bragg wavelength (ΔλB ) is highly sensitive to changes that occur due to the adsorption of glucose (or HbA1c ) molecules on the eFBG sensor coated with APBA-RGO complex through a five-membered cyclic ester bond formation between glucose and APBA molecules. A limit of detection of 1 nM is achieved with a linear range of detection from 1 nM to 10 mM in the case of D-glucose detection experiments. For HbA1c , a linear range of detection varying from 86 nM to 0.23 mM is achieved. The observation of only 4 pm (picometer) change in ΔλB even for the 10 mM lactose solution confirms the specificity of the APBA-RGO complex coated eFBG sensors to glucose molecules.

Detection of proteins by hyphenated techniques with endogenous metal tags and metal chemical labelling

The absolute and relative quantitation of proteins plays a fundamental role in modern proteomics, as it is the key to understand still unresolved biological questions in medical and pharmaceutical applications.

Recent developments in microfluidic chip-based separation devices coupled to MS for bioanalysis

In recent years, the development of microfluidic chip separation devices coupled to MS has dramatically increased for high-throughput bioanalysis. In this review, advances in different types of microfluidic chip separation devices, such as electrophoresis- and LC-based microchips, as well as 2D design of microfluidic chip-based separation devices will be discussed. In addition, the utilization of chip-based separation devices coupled to MS for analyzing peptides/proteins, glycans, drug metabolites and biomarkers for various bioanalytical applications will be evaluated.

Microfluidic chip-based liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry for determination of small molecules in bioanalytical applications

The development and integration of microfabricated liquid chromatography (LC) microchips have increased dramatically in the last decade due to the needs of enhanced sensitivity and rapid analysis as well as the rising concern on reducing environmental impacts of chemicals used in various types of chemical and biochemical analyses. Recent development of microfluidic chip-based LC mass spectrometry (chip-based LC-MS) has played an important role in proteomic research for high throughput analysis. To date, the use of chip-based LC-MS for determination of small molecules, such as biomarkers, active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), and drugs of abuse and their metabolites, in clinical and pharmaceutical applications has not been thoroughly investigated. This mini-review summarizes the utilization of commercial chip-based LC-MS systems for determination of small molecules in bioanalytical applications, including drug metabolites and disease/tumor-associated biomarkers in clinical samples as well as adsorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion studies of APIs in drug discovery and development. The different types of commercial chip-based interfaces for LC-MS analysis are discussed first and followed by applications of chip-based LC-MS on biological samples as well as the comparison with other LC-MS techniques.

Quantitative determination of 8-isoprostaglandin F(2α) in human urine using microfluidic chip-based nano-liquid chromatography with on-chip sample enrichment and tandem mass spectrometry

Urinary 8-isoprostaglandin F(2α) (8-isoPGF(2α)) has been reported as an important biomarker to indicate the oxidative stress status in vivo. In order to quantitatively determine the low contents of 8-isoPGF(2α) (in sub- to low ng mL(-1) range) in physiological fluids, a sensitive detection method has become an important issue. In this study, we employed a microfluidic chip-based nano liquid chromatography (chip-nanoLC) with on-chip sample enrichment coupled to triple quadrupole mass spectrometer (QqQ-MS) for the quantitative determination of 8-isoPGF(2α) in human urine. This chip-nanoLC unit integrates a microfluidic switch, a chip column design having a pre-column (enrichment column) for sample enrichment prior to an analytical column for separation, as well as a nanospray emitter on a single polyimide chip. The introduction of enrichment column offers the advantages of online sample pre-concentration and reducing matrix influence on MS detection to improve sensitivity. In this study, the chip-nanoLC consisting of Zorbax 300A SB-C18 columns and Agilent QqQ Mass spectrometer were used for determining 8-isoPGF(2α) in human urine. Gradient elution was employed for effective LC separation and multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) was utilized for the quantitative determination of 8-isoPGF(2α) (m/z 353→193). We employed liquid-liquid extraction (LLE)/solid-phase extraction (SPE) for extracting analyte and reducing matrix effect from urine sample prior to chip-nanoLC/QqQ-MS analysis for determining urinary 8-isoPGF(2α). Good recoveries were found to be in the range of 83.0-85.3%. The linear range was 0.01-2 ng mL(-1) for urinary 8-isoPGF(2α). In addition, the proposed method showed good precision and accuracy for 8-isoPGF(2α) spiked synthetic urine samples. Intra-day and inter-day precisions were 1.8-5.0% and 4.3-5.8%, respectively. The method accuracy for intra-day and inter-day assays ranged from 99.3 to 99.9% and 99.4 to 99.7%, respectively. Due to its rapidity, enhanced sensitivity, and high recovery, this chip-nanoLC/QqQ-MS system was successfully utilized to determine the physiological biomarkers such as 8-isoPGF(2α) in human urine for clinical diagnosis.