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Detection of tobacco-related biomarkers in urine samples by surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy coupled with thin-layer chromatography

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Abstract

The nicotine metabolites, cotinine and trans-3′-hydroxycotinine (3HC) are considered as superior biomarkers for identifying tobacco exposure. More importantly, the ratio of 3HC to cotinine is a good indicator to phenotype individuals for cytochrome P450 2A6 activity and to individualize pharmacotherapy for tobacco addiction. In this paper, a simple, robust and novel method based on surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy coupled with thin-layer chromatography (TLC) was developed to directly quantify the biomarkers in human urine samples. This is the first time surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) was used to detect cotinine and 3HC in urine samples. The linear dynamic range for the detection of cotinine is from 40 nM to 8 μM while that of 3HC is from 1 μM to 15 μM. The detection limits are 10 nM and 0.2 μM for cotinine and 3HC, respectively. The proposed method was further validated by quantifying the concentration of both cotinine and 3HC in smokers’ urine samples. This TLC-SERS method allows the direct detection of cotinine in the urine samples of both active and passive smokers and the detection of 3HC in smokers.

Scheme of the procedure for detection of cotinine and 3HC

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Acknowledgement

This research was supported by James & Esther King Biomedical Research Program, Florida Department of Health. The author also thanks Dr. David Drobes from Moffitt Cancer Center for the urine samples.

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  1. Department of Chemistry, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Ave CHE205, Tampa, FL, 33620, USA

    Rongfu Huang, Sungyub Han & Xiao (Sheryl) Li

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  1. Rongfu Huang
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  2. Sungyub Han
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  3. Xiao (Sheryl) Li
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Correspondence to Xiao (Sheryl) Li.

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Huang, R., Han, S. & Li, X. Detection of tobacco-related biomarkers in urine samples by surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy coupled with thin-layer chromatography. Anal Bioanal Chem 405, 6815–6822 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-013-7107-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-013-7107-7

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