Title:Advanced Methods for the Analysis of Testosterone
Volume: 25
Issue: 33
Author(s): Livia Alexandra Gugoasa*Raluca-Ioana Stefan-van Staden*
Affiliation:
- Laboratory of Electrochemistry and PATLAB, National Institute of Research for Electrochemistry and Condensed Matter, 202 Splaiul Independentei Str., 060021, Bucharest-6,Romania
- Laboratory of Electrochemistry and PATLAB, National Institute of Research for Electrochemistry and Condensed Matter, 202 Splaiul Independentei Str., 060021, Bucharest-6,Romania
Keywords:
Testosterone, sensors, immunoassay, stochastic, spectrometry, chromatography.
Abstract: Testosterone is the principal endogenous androgenic–anabolic steroid in humans.
The levels of testosterone in the human body are correlated with many hormonal
disorders (hypogonadism, impotence, etc) mostly in men, and with many types of diseases
such as: prostate cancer, metabolic syndrome, obesity, cardiovascular diseases and
so on. Testosterone is extensively used among sportsmen willing to increase strength, aggressiveness,
and recovery; making it the most commonly reported substance in steroid
abuse. Fast, easy and cheap methods for the evaluation of testosterone are extremely
needed in clinics and hospitals. This review is dedicated to surveying recent determination
methods of testosterone from different biological samples such as: serum, saliva,
plasma, urine or fingernail samples. After a brief description of the role of this steroid
hormone in the biomedical field, various types of determination methods are described.
The most important methods are immunoassays, liquid chromatography tandem massspectrometry
and electrochemical methods. Different types of sensors were designed for
the rapid assessment of testosterone: immunosensors, biosensors, stochastic or multimode
sensors. One can conclude that to date, the available methods of analysis can cover a wide
concentration range, able to detect testosterone from children`s saliva, where the levels
are the lowest (using stochastic sensors), to whole blood, where electrochemical, immunological
and chromatographic methods can be used.
