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Smartphone-based colorimetric ELISA implementation for determination of women’s reproductive steroid hormone profiles

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Abstract

Biologists frequently collect and analyze biospecimens in naturalistic (i.e., field) conditions to ascertain information regarding the physiological status of their study participants. Generally, field-collected biospecimens need to be stored frozen in the field and then transported frozen to laboratory facilities where traditional biomarker assays, such as enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs), are conducted. As proper storage and transport of frozen specimens is often logistically difficult and expensive, particularly in nonurban field settings, methods that reduce the need for specimen storage and transport would benefit field-research dependent disciplines such as biology, ecology and epidemiology. One limiting factor to running assays in the field is the use of large and expensive equipment to visualize and quantify the assays, such as microplate readers. Here, we describe an implementation of colorimetric ELISA visualization and quantification using two novel and portable imaging instrumentation systems and data processing techniques for the determination of women’s reproductive steroid hormone profiles. Using the light absorbance and transmittance properties of the chemical compounds that make up the hormone assay, we were able to estimate unknown hormone concentrations using a smartphone system and a webcam system. These estimates were comparable to those from a standard laboratory multiple reader (smartphone: accuracy = 82.20%, R 2 > 0.910; webcam: accuracy = 87.59%, R 2 > 0.942). This line of applied research, in the long run, is expected to provide necessary information for examining the extent to which reproductive function varies within and between populations and how it is influenced by psychosocial, energetic and environmental challenges. Our validation of these novel, portable visualization and quantification systems allows for the eventual development of a compact and economical closed system which can be used to quantify biomarker concentrations in remote areas.

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (Grant No. 611184), Canadian Institutes of Health Research (Grant No. 106705) and the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (Grant No. Career Investigator Scholar award). We also appreciate the support of Ms. Shruti Menon during our experiments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Engineering Science, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada

    Tejaswi Ogirala, Ashley Eapen & Ash M. Parameswaran

  2. Maternal and Child Health Laboratory, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada

    Katrina G. Salvante, Tomas Rapaport & Pablo A. Nepomnaschy

  3. Human Evolutionary Studies Program, Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada

    Katrina G. Salvante & Pablo A. Nepomnaschy

Authors
  1. Tejaswi Ogirala
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  2. Ashley Eapen
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  3. Katrina G. Salvante
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  4. Tomas Rapaport
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  5. Pablo A. Nepomnaschy
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  6. Ash M. Parameswaran
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tejaswi Ogirala.

Glossary

ELISA

Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay: laboratory test that uses antibodies and changes in intensity of color or fluorescence to quantify the concentration of the target substance, e.g., hormones

PdG

Pregnanediol glucuronide: a urinary metabolite of progesterone

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Ogirala, T., Eapen, A., Salvante, K.G. et al. Smartphone-based colorimetric ELISA implementation for determination of women’s reproductive steroid hormone profiles. Med Biol Eng Comput 55, 1735–1741 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11517-016-1605-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11517-016-1605-7

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