A Novel Enzymatic Technique for Determination of Sarcosine in Urine Samples
Department
Chemistry
Major
Chemistry
Research Advisor
Ma, Yinfa
Advisor's Department
Chemistry
Funding Source
Missouri S&T Opportunities for Undergraduate Research Experiences (OURE) Program; Environmental Research Center, Department of Chemistry
Abstract
There has been recent interest in metabolite concentrations present in urine for noninvasive disease diagnosis. The detection of specific metabolites, however, presents certain analytical difficulties such as low or ambiguous specificity. This study developed a new technique, utilizing oxidative, enzymatic production of formaldehyde from the metabolite to produce a pH-induced change observed by fluorescein in acetone. This probe displays high sensitivity towards pH imbalances, and coupled with high enzymatic specificity, forms an accurate method to measure metabolite concentrations. Sarcosine was used as a model analyte in this study due to its potential for serving as a prostate cancer biomarker. A good linearity was revealed with a correlation coefficient of 0.9961 and a detection limit of 20 nmol·L-1. This method was applied to sarcosine analysis in nine urine samples. The results suggest that this is a viable, cost-effective technique for determination of sarcosine in urine samples without interferences such as alanine.
Biography
Casey graduated from School of the Osage High School in Kaiser, MO. In high school, he was engaged with scientific research attending numerous symposia and authoring three papers involving the modeling of absolute pitch using a software paradigm. While attending Missouri University of Science and Technology, Casey has been working with Dr. Ma of the Department of Chemistry to develop analytical techniques for potential urinary biomarkers for prostate cancer as well as other environmental analytical applications including kinetics of oxidation of nitrosamine precursors. His university work has garnered the attention of various agencies and has culminated in a high-impact publication as well as attendance at various conferences. Casey plans to continue his studies by obtaining a Ph.D. in Bioanalytical Chemistry from Missouri University of Science and Technology.
Research Category
Sciences
Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Document Type
Presentation
Award
Sciences oral presentation, Third place
Location
Turner Room
Presentation Date
10 Apr 2012, 9:00 am - 9:30 am
A Novel Enzymatic Technique for Determination of Sarcosine in Urine Samples
Turner Room
There has been recent interest in metabolite concentrations present in urine for noninvasive disease diagnosis. The detection of specific metabolites, however, presents certain analytical difficulties such as low or ambiguous specificity. This study developed a new technique, utilizing oxidative, enzymatic production of formaldehyde from the metabolite to produce a pH-induced change observed by fluorescein in acetone. This probe displays high sensitivity towards pH imbalances, and coupled with high enzymatic specificity, forms an accurate method to measure metabolite concentrations. Sarcosine was used as a model analyte in this study due to its potential for serving as a prostate cancer biomarker. A good linearity was revealed with a correlation coefficient of 0.9961 and a detection limit of 20 nmol·L-1. This method was applied to sarcosine analysis in nine urine samples. The results suggest that this is a viable, cost-effective technique for determination of sarcosine in urine samples without interferences such as alanine.
