Novel Clinical Chemistry Sensing Motif

描述(申请人提供)：家庭测试的发展和使用彻底改变了糖尿病等慢性疾病的管理。我们在这里提出了一项计划，开发一种家用检测试剂盒，用于氨和氨基酸等分析物质，这将彻底改变氨基酸病、尿素循环障碍和其他先天代谢错误的治疗方法。这些疾病(例如PKU)需要复杂的检测来进行诊断和临床监测。虽然不常见，但患有这些疾病的人消耗了大量昂贵的医疗护理。治疗需要经常监测血清氨基酸水平，在尿素循环障碍的情况下，监测氨，以避免显著的发病率和死亡率。事实上，美国国立卫生研究院最近对北大发表的共识声明指出，“建议开发一种可靠的家庭测试方法，以及提高遵从性的措施。”为了改善对患有这些先天代谢障碍的患者的护理，我们将开发用于氨和特定氨基酸的光子晶体传感器，患者可以使用这些传感器进行家庭监测。我们的目标是开发一种传感材料，这种材料可以整合到一种设备中，利用手指上的少量血液。血液将被放置在光子晶体薄膜传感器上，该传感器会随着特定氨基酸和/或NH4*的浓度而迅速改变颜色。分析物的感测将通过使用一台简单的Palm Pilot类型的仪器进行监测，该仪器使用彩色CCD摄像机。如果该设备作为患者传记作者操作，结果可以立即显示，并很容易记录下来。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The development and utilization of home testing has revolutionized the management of chronic diseases such as diabetes mellitus. We propose here a plan to develop a home test kit for analytes such as ammonia and amino acids that would revolutionize the management of aminoacidopathies, urea cycle disorders, and other inborn errors of metabolism. These diseases (for example, PKU) require complex testing for diagnosis and clinical monitoring. While uncommon, individuals suffering from these disorders consume significant amounts of expensive medical care. Treatment requires frequent monitoring of serum amino acid levels, and in the case of the urea cycle disorders, ammonia, to avoid significant morbidity and mortality. In fact the recent NIH consensus statement for PKU stated, "Development of a reliable home-testing method is recommended, as well as measures to increase adherence." In order to improve the care of patients with these inborn errors of metabolism, we will develop photonic crystal sensors for ammonia and specific amino acids that patients could use for home monitoring. Our objective is to develop a sensing materials that can be incorporated into a device that utilizes a small amount of blood from a fingerstick. The blood would be placed on a photonic crystal film sensor that would rapidly change color in response to the concentration of a particular amino acid and/or NH4*. The analyte sensing will be monitored by using a simple Palm Pilot-type instrument that utilizes a color CCD camera. The results could be immediately displayed, and easily recorded if the device is operated as a patient biographer.