Visual Detection of Cysteine and Homocysteine

摘要

Homocysteine is a risk factor for disorders including cardiovascular and Alzheimer's disease. Cysteine deficiency is involved in slowed growth, hair depigmentation, edema, lethargy, liver damage, muscle and fat loss, skin lesions, and weakness. The detection of important biological thiols including cysteine and homocysteine has been the focus of numerous research efforts. The majority of the reported methods are based on redox chemistry or derivatization with chromophores or fluorophores. The determination of specific thiols is often carried out in conjunction with HPLC or capillary electrophoresis separations or via immunoassays. Recent reports describe a need for much simpler methods that employ stable, nontoxic reagents which are less sensitive to pH and afford the requisite sensitivity as well as high selectivity.