Archival Blood Spots. Cerebral Palsy and Autism Studies

从新生儿获得的存档干血斑中的多种分析物的分析是用于评估出生时存在的许多生物事件（炎症、免疫功能障碍、凝血异常）的有价值的工具。回收免疫亲和色谱（RIC）系统已开发用于分离和测量多达52种不同的分析物在约三分之一的脚跟刺伤血斑干燥的色谱滤纸。该系统允许研究人员检查和比较同一样品中的许多重要生物系统。应用于从临床诊断为脑瘫和自闭症的儿童中获得的样本，开始出现不同的模式。在脑瘫中，某些细胞因子的升高与患者的临床状态相关，而在自闭症中，某些神经肽表现出类似的趋势。这些研究正在扩展到检查其他队列的档案材料，并扩大阵列的可检测的分析物。此外，正在使用质谱法进行研究，以确定所测量分子的物理化学特征，并评估其作为临床生物标志物的潜力。

Analysis of multiple analytes in archival dried blood spots obtained from newborn infants is a valuable tool for assessing a number of biological events (inflammation, immune dysfunction, coagulation abnormalities) present at birth. A recycling immunoaffinity chromatographic (RIC) system has been developed for isolating and measuring up to 52 different analytes in approximately one third of a heel stab blood spot dried on chromatography filter paper. This system allows investigators to examine and compare a number of important biological systems within the same sample. Applied to samples obtained from children with clinical diagnoses of cerebral palsy and autism, distinct patterns are beginning to emerge. In cerebral palsy, elevations of certain cytokines demonstrated a correlation with the clinical status of the patient while in autism certain neuropeptides demonstrated a similar trend. These studies are being extended to examination of other cohorts of archival materials and to extending the array of detectable analytes. Additionally, studies are being performed using mass spectrometry to determine the physico-chemical characteristics of the molecules measured and evaluating their potential as clinical biomarkers.