Detection of Cortisol using Chromatography and Mass Spectroscopy

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The monitoring of the steroid hormone cortisol/cortisone allows for medical professionals to diagnose conditions often relating to elevated stress and anxiety. Currently the most used method of detecting cortisol requires intravenous sampling and measuring over the course of several hours. Salivary samples have been used to determine the cortisol concentration and hence the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis. Mass spectroscopy allows for accurate cortisol detection, using a uSPEed cartridge a chromatographic separation/micro separation allows for improvements to the cortisol signal. Optimising the electrospray micro solid phase extraction (SPE) and atmospheric pressure chemical ionisation (APCI) for different concentrations of cortisol will allow for the development of novel cartridges using silver coated silica tips, with tuneable pores sizes. Additionally, High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) with UV detection can be used for detection of cortisol. Coating different papers with silica will allow for lateral flow chromatography, using different sized silicas, and the addition of aptamers means that the paper chromatography can be optimised use in paper spray mass spectroscopy. This will provide a cheap alternative to the current methods of accurately measuring cortisol concentrations.