Toluene Abuse: A Medicolegal Perspective

Harnessing Small-Molecule Analyte Detection in Complex Media: Combining Molecularly Imprinted Polymers, Electrolytic Transistors, and Machine Learning

“…HA is a metabolite naturally found in the urine of healthy individuals. 33 However, HA is also a marker for several diseases, including toluene intoxication, 12 kidney, 14 and bowel inflammation, 15 and infections caused by Trypanosoma brucei brucei, 13 Schistosoma japonicum, Necator americanus, 34 and Echinostoma caproni. 35 In certain medical conditions, variations in the normal levels of HA in urine may manifest, 36 requiring the use of analytical methods capable of accurately quantifying small variations of HA.…”

“…Aiming to develop new strategies for the development of PoC technologies capable of detecting small-molecule analytes in complex media, we report an unprecedented approach that synergistically combines (i) electrolyte-gated transistors (EGTs) as a device platform, (ii) reduced graphene oxide (rGO) as a sensory material, (iii) molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) as supramolecular receptors, and (iv) machine learning (ML) for advanced data analysis. Here, hippuric acid (HA)a metabolite naturally found in the urine of healthy individuals but also a biomarker of several diseases such as toluene intoxication, parasitic infection, and kidney and bowel inflammation − was employed as the target small-molecule analyte to be detected in artificial urine.…”