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Abstract
<p class="first" id="P1">Follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) plays a critical role
in female reproductive development
and homeostasis. The blood/serum concentration of FSH is an important marker for reporting
multiple endocrinal functions. The standardized method for mouse FSH (mFSH) quantification
based on radioimmunoassay (RIA) suffers from long assay time (∼2 days), relatively
low sensitivity, larger sample volume (60 μL), and small dynamic range (2−60 ng/mL);
thus, it is insufficient for monitoring fast developing events with relatively small
mFSH fluctuations (e.g., estrous cycles of mammals). Here, we developed an automated
microfluidic chemiluminescent ELISA device along with the disposal sensor array and
the corresponding detection protocol for rapid and quantitative analysis of mFSH from
mouse tail serum samples. With this technology, highly sensitive quantification of
mFSH can be accomplished within 30 min using only 8 μL of the serum sample. It is
further shown that our technique is able to generate results comparable to RIA but
has a significantly improved dynamic range that covers 0.5−250 ng/mL. The performance
of this technology was evaluated with blood samples collected from ovariectomized
animals and animals with reimplanted ovarian tissues, which restored ovarian endocrine
function and correlated with estrus cycle analysis study.
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