Detection of Cortisol using Chromatography and Mass Spectroscopy

对类固醇激素皮质醇/可的松的监测使医学专业人员能够诊断出通常与压力和焦虑升高有关的疾病。目前最常用的检测皮质醇的方法需要在几个小时内进行静脉采样和测量。唾液样本已被用来确定皮质醇浓度，因此下丘脑垂体肾上腺轴。质谱可以精确检测皮质醇，使用uSPEed试剂盒进行色谱分离/微分离可以改善皮质醇信号。优化不同浓度皮质醇的电喷雾微固相萃取（SPE）和大气压化学电离（APCI），将允许开发使用镀银二氧化硅尖端的新型碳管，具有可调的孔隙大小。此外，高效液相色谱（HPLC）与紫外检测可用于检测皮质醇。在不同的纸张上涂上二氧化硅将允许使用不同大小的二氧化硅进行横向流动色谱，适配体的添加意味着纸张色谱可以优化用于纸张喷雾质谱。这将为目前精确测量皮质醇浓度的方法提供一种廉价的替代方法。

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.