Saliva samples are inserted right into a reader that transmits cortisol measurements to a sensible telephone. Credit score: Andrew Higley
College of Cincinnati engineers have created a brand new system to assist docs diagnose despair and anxiousness.
UC Faculty of Engineering and Utilized Science Distinguished Analysis Professor Chong Ahn and his college students developed a “lab-on-a-chip” system that measures the stress hormone cortisol from a affected person’s saliva. Understanding if a affected person has elevated stress hormones can present helpful diagnostic data even when sufferers don’t report emotions of tension, stress or despair in an ordinary psychological well being questionnaire.
Psychological well being problems have an effect on greater than 400 million individuals all over the world. Stress problems reminiscent of anxiousness and despair are among the many main causes of incapacity worldwide. Extended cortisol elevation is linked to quite a few psychological well being problems, together with despair and anxiousness.
UC researchers created a lab-on-a-chip system to trace a affected person’s cortisol ranges. It consists of a disposable assortment system that an individual places of their mouth which is then inserted right into a reader. The reader can transmit ends in minutes to a transportable analyzer and smartphone.
The research is revealed within the journal Biomedical Microdevices.
“We’re working on point-of-care testing, which allows patients to do testing at home or in a clinic. People don’t want to go to a lab to get invasive tests,” Ahn stated. “Psychological well being care will be an pressing scenario. And so these assessments will assist docs make well timed interventions.
“The system uses traditional psychometric evaluations in a questionnaire along with physiological biomarker measurements that provide evidence-based diagnostics. This approach has the potential to open a new realm of diagnostics for stress disorders.”
Sufferers can do the testing themselves and share outcomes with docs through smartphones, he stated.
UC Faculty of Engineering and Utilized Science Distinguished Analysis Professor Chong Ahn is engaged on new purposes for point-of-care testing. One system measures cortisol from a saliva pattern. Credit score: Andrew Higley
Early warnings
Research co-author UC doctoral scholar Supreeth Setty is engaged on a associated challenge for his dissertation that examines one other hormone (dehydroepiandrosterone) that goes by the acronym DHEA. That hormone helps to counteract the consequences of an excessive amount of cortisol within the physique. Analysis has proven that top ratios of cortisol to DHEA are indicators of persistent stress related to circumstances reminiscent of despair and anxiousness.
“When a patient comes in, they take blood samples. Normally it takes days to get lab results back,” Setty stated. “But here the results are obtained in a few minutes using saliva, and it’s noninvasive.”
Setty stated the assessments present clinicians with goal proof to complement conventional screenings such because the affected person well being questionnaire.
“Point-of-care testing is a practical way to make results available quickly for everyone,” he stated.
Not like psychological well being questionnaires that may be extra subjective as a result of they depend on a affected person’s candor and self-awareness, the cortisol and DHEA assessments are goal and might elevate a pink flag a couple of affected person’s ranges of stress, Setty stated.
“The next step would be to collaborate with psychiatrists and conduct clinical trials to see if our platform works as expected,” Setty stated.
UC doctoral graduate Vinitha Thiyagarajan Upaassana was the lead writer of the research with Setty and co-author and UC doctoral scholar Heeyong Jang.
College of Cincinnati doctoral scholar Heeyong Jang holds up a lab-on-a-chip microfluidic lateral movement assay to measure hormones in a point-of-care system. Credit score: Andrew Higley
Different purposes
UC researchers say their approach can be utilized to diagnose different well being points.
Specifically, they examined troponin, a protein that will get launched into the bloodstream when sufferers endure harm to their hearts from circumstances reminiscent of a coronary heart assault. The quantity of the protein launched is determined by how a lot harm the guts sustains. Excessive cardiac troponin ranges together with signs reminiscent of chest ache can point out a coronary heart assault in progress.
In a paper revealed within the journal Analytical Chemistry, Jang, Setty and Ahn unveiled an progressive new system for a speedy and efficient point-of-care biochemical check that measures troponin from a drop of blood.
“Once you survive a heart attack there is an increased probability of having another heart attack,” Jang stated. “We can monitor troponin in the blood on a daily basis and hopefully get valuable information. The test provides immediate results, which is important when a patient is in need of immediate care.”
UC researchers additionally developed a brand new point-of-care-testing platform for COVID-19. Researchers unveiled their new design within the journal Sensors and Diagnostics.
Extra data:
V. Thiyagarajan Upaassana et al, On-site evaluation of cortisol in saliva based mostly on microchannel lateral movement assay (mLFA) on polymer lab-on-a-chip (LOC), Biomedical Microdevices (2025). DOI: 10.1007/s10544-025-00733-6
Heeyeong Jang et al, A New Chemiluminescence-Based mostly Fast Diagnostic Testing Platform with Sequential Twin-Circulation Strips for Cardiac Troponin I (cTnI), Analytical Chemistry (2025). DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.4c06427
Supreeth Setty et al, A brand new sequential twin movement lab-on-a-chip with a lyophilized one-component chemiluminescence substrate for high-sensitive microchannel lateral movement assay (mLFA), Sensors & Diagnostics (2025). DOI: 10.1039/D4SD00352G
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