Rapid monitoring of serum albumin as a biomarker of liver and kidney diseases using femtosecond laser-induced fluorescence

Albumin is the most abundant serum protein that transports hormones, free fatty acids, bilirubin, various ions, and drugs. The current study investigated the potential application of laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) in clinical analysis of human serum albumin (HSA) as a biomarker of liver and kidney disease. The excitation wavelength and HSA concentrations were systematically varied, and the LIF spectrum was recorded, in order to construct a standard calibration curve. Over a wide range of excitation wavelengths, excitation at 350 nm showed the maximum fluorescence emission centered at 500 nm. We compared the determination of certain concentrations of HSA using both LIF and conventional laboratory assays. The LIF technique proved to be highly accurate and efficient. It may be concluded that femtosecond LIF provides a new, easy, very sensitive, precise, and direct method of detecting albumin in various biological samples.