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Diabetes mellitus is a growing healthcare problem internationally, and poses a major burden from both a individual and societal perspective. Diabetes causes potentially life-threatening complications that are preventable if the disease is detected early and appropriate interventions are put in place. Early detection is therefore imperative for preventing diabetes-related morbidity and mortality. Current methods of detection, including the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), and measures of fasting plasma glucose, glycated hemoglobin (HbA(1c)), or glycated albumin, can be time-consuming and uncomfortable for patients. Myoinositol can be measured in urine and has been found to be elevated in patients with diabetes and glucose intolerance; it has thus proven useful as a marker for the early detection of these conditions. Lucica MI is a diagnostic kit for the measurement of urinary myoinositol; it is used to detect glucose intolerance and diabetes mellitus at an early stage in disease progression. The test is based on an enzymatic method that uses liquid reagents requiring no preparation. Clinical trial results demonstrate that the test could be used to detect not only diabetes mellitus, but also to distinguish impaired fasting glucose and impaired glucose tolerance from normal glucose tolerance.

The ratio of glycated albumin to albumin concentration in serum is termed the glycated albumin (GA) value. The GA value provides a time-averaged index of the state of glycemic control for the previous 2 weeks. In this study, a dry chemistry system (GA monitor) via an enzymatic method was proposed in order to provide a GA value measurement for point of care testing (POCT). The GA monitor was made from three devices a set of test-tapes, a test-strip and an optical analyzer. A GA test-tape, a ketoamine test-tape and an albumin test-tape were enclosed in the fabricated test-strip. Time-course changes of the optical characteristics were evaluated using the test-strip. It was found that the three test tapes must be enclosed in the test-strip to create a dry chemistry system for small sample volumes (20 microl). A temperature control unit, which could hold the temperature of the GA test-tape at 45 degrees C and at 25 degrees C for the other two types of test-tape was incorporated into the optical analyzer. With the GA test-tape held separately and controlled at 45 degrees C, the analytical time decreased to one-third of the time taken for the three tapes at 25 degrees C. The analytical accuracy of the three types of test-tape showed favorable results, with R2 values of 0.96-0.98 and coefficients of variation (CV) of 2.4-6.8%. Compared with a commercially available liquid chemistry system, the analytical accuracy of the GA monitor exhibited a relatively favorable linearity of R=0.82. According to these results, a new GA value analytical system was realized, in which the GA value could be assayed within five minutes using only 20 microl of blood sample with a disposable test-strip. This system could potentially be used for clinical purposes as test equipment for rapid and efficient POCT.

We assessed the possibility of using myo-inositol as a marker of glucose intolerance.We measured urinary myo-inositol enzymatically before and 2 h after a 75-g oral glucose tolerance test in 564 volunteers, who were divided into four groups [normal glucose tolerance (NGT), impaired fasting glucose (IFG), impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), and diabetes mellitus (DM)]. Furthermore, we classified NGT into NGT-A (2-h blood glucose120 mg/dl and 2-h glucosuria50 mg/dl) and NGT-B (remaining NGT subjects). We then compared deltamyo-inositol (myo-inositol/creatinine ratio: 2-h after glucose load--before load) of each group to investigate the relationship between glucose intolerance and deltamyo-inositol.The glucose tolerance of NGT-B appeared to have deteriorated compared with NGT-A as determined by blood glucose, insulin, and glucosuria. There was very little effect of gender or age on deltamyo-inositol in NGT-A. deltamyo-inositol was significantly higher than that in NGT-A (0.5+/-7.1 mg/g Cr) not only in IFG (8.7+/-19.5 mg/g Cr, P0.0001), IGT (14.8+/-22.9 mg/g Cr, P0.0001) and DM (79.5+/-37.1 mg/g Cr, P0.0001), but in NGT-B (7.4+/-12.7 mg/g Cr, P0.0001). With 2 mg/g Cr as a tentative cut-off for deltamyo-inositol to detect NGT-A, sensitivity and specificity were 68% and 72%, respectively.The deltamyo-inositol can be use of a non-invasive and sensitive marker for glucose intolerance.

Background: To determine myo-inositol more accurately, we improved the enzymatic cycling method. Methods: We screened myo-inositol dehydrogenase (MIDH; EC.1.1.1.18) from Flavobacterium sp., which was highly specific to myo-inositol. We measured urinary myo-inositol/creatinine ratio 2 h after 75-g oral glucose tolerance test (2 h MI) of 71 volunteers, and investigated the relationship between diabetes and urinary myo-inositol concentration. Results: The calibration curve was linear (r=1.00) up to 2000 μmol/l, and the detection limit was 10 μmol/l. Within-run and between-run CVs were 0.5–1.1% and 0.4–1.3%, respectively. The 2 h MI of impaired fasting glycemia (IFG; 65.1±46.6 mg/g Cr, P

Background : In order to determine glycated albumin more easily and rapidly, we developed a new enzymatic method for glycated albumin in blood samples. Methods : The method involves use of albumin-specific proteinase, ketoamine oxidase and serum albumin assay reagent. In the assay, glycated albumin is hydrolyzed to glycated amino acids by proteinase digestion, and ketoamine oxidase oxidizes the glycated amino acids to produce hydrogen peroxide, which is quantitatively measured. Glycated albumin is calculated as the percentage of glycated albumin in total albumin. Results : The calibration curve for glycated albumin concentration was linear ( r p =0.999) between 0.0 and 50.0 g/l and that for albumin concentration was linear ( r p =0.999) between 0.0 and 60.0 g/l. The analytical recoveries of exogenous glycated albumin added to serum were 100–102.5%. The within-run and between-run CVs were 0.45–0.67% and 1.09–1.26%, respectively. This method was free from interference by bilirubin, chyle, glucose, globulins and labile intermediate. Weak interference by hemoglobin and ascorbic acid was observed. Glycated albumin detected by the present method was significantly correlated with glycated albumin detected by high-performance liquid-chromatographic (HPLC) method (serum: r s =0.989, plasma: r p =0.992). Conclusions : This new enzymatic method is simple, rapid, allows multiple determinations and enables quantitative analysis of glycated albumin.