RxPG News Feed for RxPG News

Medical Research Health Special Topics World
  Home
 
   Health
 Aging
 Asian Health
 Events
 Fitness
 Food & Nutrition
 Happiness
 Men's Health
 Mental Health
 Occupational Health
 Parenting
 Public Health
 Sleep Hygiene
 Women's Health
 
   Healthcare
 Africa
 Australia
 Canada Healthcare
 China Healthcare
 India Healthcare
 New Zealand
 South Africa
 UK
 USA
 World Healthcare
 
   Latest Research
 Aging
 Alternative Medicine
 Anaethesia
 Biochemistry
 Biotechnology
 Cancer
 Cardiology
 Clinical Trials
 Cytology
 Dental
 Dermatology
 Embryology
 Endocrinology
 ENT
 Environment
 Epidemiology
 Gastroenterology
 Genetics
 Gynaecology
 Haematology
 Immunology
 Infectious Diseases
 Medicine
 Metabolism
 Microbiology
 Musculoskeletal
 Nephrology
 Neurosciences
 Obstetrics
 Ophthalmology
 Orthopedics
 Paediatrics
 Pathology
 Pharmacology
 Physiology
 Physiotherapy
 Psychiatry
  Anorexia Nervosa
  Anxiety
  Bulimia
  CFS
  Child Psychiatry
  Depression
  Forensic Psychiatry
  Learning-Disabilities
  Mood Disorders
  Neuropsychiatry
  Peri-Natal Psychiatry
  Personality Disorders
  Psychology
  Psychoses
  Psychotherapy
  Sleep Disorders
  Substance Abuse
   Alcohol
   Amphetamine
   Cannabis
   Cocaine
   Opiates
   Smoking
  Suicide
 Radiology
 Rheumatology
 Sports Medicine
 Surgery
 Toxicology
 Urology
 
   Medical News
 Awards & Prizes
 Epidemics
 Launch
 Opinion
 Professionals
 
   Special Topics
 Ethics
 Euthanasia
 Evolution
 Feature
 Odd Medical News
 Climate

Last Updated: Oct 11, 2012 - 10:22:56 PM
Cocaine Channel

subscribe to Cocaine newsletter
Latest Research : Psychiatry : Substance Abuse : Cocaine

   EMAIL   |   PRINT
Scientists design simple dipstick test for cocaine, other drugs

Nov 14, 2006 - 2:44:00 AM , Reviewed by: Venkat Yelamanchili
"Our results show that the aptamer-based dipstick is compatible with biological samples, making applications in medicinal diagnostics possible,"

 
[RxPG] Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed a simple "dipstick" test for detecting cocaine and other drugs in saliva, urine or blood serum. The test is based upon DNA-gold nanoparticle technology, and can be packaged in user-friendly kits similar to those used for home pregnancy tests.

"Building upon our earlier work with lead (Pb) sensors, we constructed colorimetric sensors that are based on the lateral flow separation of aptamer-linked nanostructures," said Yi Lu, a chemistry professor at the U. of I., and a researcher at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology.

"The new sensors offer a quick and convenient test that can be utilized by first responders or emergency room staff to quickly screen individuals for a variety of drugs and other chemicals." Lu said.

Aptamers are single-stranded nucleic acids that can bind to specific molecules in three-dimensions. For each molecular target, such as cocaine, a corresponding aptamer can be selected from a large DNA library.

By using lateral flow devices as platforms to separate aptamer-linked nanoparticle aggregates, Lu, postdoctoral researcher Juewen Liu and graduate student Debapriya Mazumdar created highly sensitive and selective colorimetric sensors that mimic litmus paper tests. The researchers describe their work in a paper accepted for publication in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition, and posted on its Web site.

"Our lateral flow devices take advantage of the difference in size between dispersed and aggregated gold nanostructures," Lu said. "This provides critical control for the performance of the devices."

The lateral flow device consists of four overlapping pads – wicking, conjugation, membrane and absorption. The appropriate aptamer-linked nanoparticle aggregates are placed on the conjugation pad, streptavidin is applied as a thin line to the membrane pad, and the device is then dried.

When dipped into a solution, or swabbed with a sample, the wicking pad carries the fluid to the nanoparticle aggregates on the conjugation pad. The rehydrated aggregates then migrate to the edge of the membrane, which they cannot penetrate because of their large size.

The aptamers quickly bind to any targeted molecules that are present, freeing some of the gold nanoparticles. The red-colored nanoparticles then migrate along the membrane, where they are captured by the streptavidin and form a red line. The intensity of the line is an indicator of how much of the targeted molecule was in the sample solution.

So far, the researchers have successfully demonstrated their dipstick technology on both adenosine (a nucleotide consisting of adenine and ribose) and cocaine, in human blood serum.

"Our results show that the aptamer-based dipstick is compatible with biological samples, making applications in medicinal diagnostics possible," Lu said.



Publication: Angewandte Chemie International Edition
On the web: www.uiuc.edu 

Advertise in this space for $10 per month. Contact us today.


Related Cocaine News
Scientists design simple dipstick test for cocaine, other drugs
Biochemical signature of cocaine craving revealed
Eliminating the rewarding effect of cocaine by genetic alterations
Prenatal cocaine exposure not linked to bad behavior in kids
Strength of cocaine cravings linked to brain response
Cocaine use linked to brain hemmorhage in young adults
Transcriptional activation is a key molecular mechanism in cocaine addiction
Disrupting reconsolidation of the cocaine-related memory

Subscribe to Cocaine Newsletter

Enter your email address:


 Additional information about the news article
The work was funded by the U. S. Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Army Research Laboratory.
 Feedback
For any corrections of factual information, to contact the editors or to send any medical news or health news press releases, use feedback form

Top of Page

 
Contact us

RxPG Online

Nerve

 

    Full Text RSS

© All rights reserved by RxPG Medical Solutions Private Limited (India)