In medical field, quantitative analyses of biological samples are performed to detect, diagnose and monitor diseases. One important example is quantitative detection of human serum albumin (HSA) in body fluids. Serum albumin is the most abundant protein in blood plasma (60% of the total proteins in blood plasma). It plays vital roles in maintaining oncotic pressure of blood and serves as a carrier for fatty acids, vitamins, hormones, and drugs. Amount of HSA higher than 20 mg/mL in urine is an indicator of kidney damage, which has been associated with diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Hence, search for efficient tools for HSA detection in body fluids has gained great importance among researchers and medical scientists. Several methods are currently available and routinely used in medical diagnosis of HSA.<br/>Recently, fluorometric methods based on intrinsic fluorescence of organic compounds have gained considerable attentions as these techniques are easy to perform, highly sensitive, and for quantitative analysis only one compound is required. Along this line, our project aims to develop suitable compounds for easy and cost-effective detection of HSA in biological samples. We have prepared two fluorophores in two easy steps. In one fluorophore, a polar functional group was attached to increase water solubility of the fluorophore. Comparison of their photophysical properties in different environments provided various structure-optical property relationships of the fluorophores. Fluorophore without polar functional group was non-luminescent both in water and in presence of HSA. Whereas, initial luminescence of the fluorophore with polar functional group was undetectable in water, addition of human serum albumin greatly enhanced luminescence of the fluorophore which led to detection of nano-molar amount (10 nM) of the protein. Initial binding assay analysis indicates that selective binding of fluorophore into the protein pocket is the major factor for the many fold enhancement of emission and consequential facile quantitative detection of HSA in urine samples.

Fluorescent-based biosensors for detection of human serum albumin protein

255th National Meeting (2018)

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