Methodological considerations for hair cortisol measurements in children

Hair cortisol levels are used increasingly as a measure for chronic stress in young children. Modifications to the current methods used for hair cortisol analysis are proposed to more accurately determine reference ranges for hair cortisol across different populations and age groups. Salimetrics offers hair cortisol testing at its laboratory based at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge

  Methods: The authors compared standard (finely cutting hair) vs. milled methods for hair processing (n=16), developed a 4-step extraction process for hair protein and cortisol (n=16), and compared liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LCMS) vs. ELISA assays for measuring hair cortisol (n=28). The extraction process included sequential incubations in methanol and acetone, repeated twice. Hair protein was measured via spectrophotometric ratios at 260/280 nm to indicate the hair dissolution state using a BioTek® plate reader and dedicated software. Hair cortisol was measured using an ELISA assay kit. Individual (n=13), pooled hair samples (n=12) with high, intermediate, and low cortisol values and the ELISA assay internal standards (n=3) were also evaluated by LCMS.   To see the results of this research login to Salimetrics'  BlogPost
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