The program objective is to develop an analytical instrument which will rapidly quantify alcoholic severity in an individual. One detriment of alcohol abuse is the reliance upon accurate self reporting. Quantitative results could be achieved if a minimally invasive method could monitor a biochemical marker for alcoholism. The proposed instrument will utilize Ultraviolet Resonance Raman Spectroscopy (UVRRS) for quantifying an alcohol specific biochemical marker or markers. Resonance enhancement is wavelength specific which allows the detecting element to see the alcoholism marker while being """"""""blind"""""""" to the majority of blood components. EIC Laboratories has successfully demonstrated detection of acetaldehyde adducts of hemoglobin previously. Newer. simpler UVRRS instrumentation make a viable alcoholism monitor for widespread use feasible. During the Phase I program, we will optimize the UVRRS instrument for detection and quantification of the acetaldehyde adducts, as well as investigate the potential of using carbohydrate deficient transferrin as a confirmation marker. We will then demonstrate sensitivity limits and investigate interferents. Enhancing the sensitivity through the use of an antibody prefiltering stage will also be investigated. The Phase II program objective will be to develop a compact dedicated instrument with appropriate spectral searching and analysis software to aid in clinical studies and alcoholism research.
A compact alcoholism Raman monitor would greatly aid clinicians and researchers involved with basic alcohol mechanistic studies or with clinical analyses. The Raman detector c9uld also have widespread utilization in evaluation of several other blood related diseases and can be used for basic mechanistic research.
