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  4. Ultrafast Autofluorescence of Bilirubin as a Sensor of Albumin Conformation in Blood Serum
 
research article

Ultrafast Autofluorescence of Bilirubin as a Sensor of Albumin Conformation in Blood Serum

Nurgalieva, Polina K.
•
Yakimov, Boris P.
•
Gaier, Aleksei V.  
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August 19, 2025
Analytical Chemistry

Pathological processes are often accompanied by alterations of protein conformations in blood serum, making investigation of these structural rearrangements highly relevant for clinical diagnostics. Conformation of albumin, the predominant protein in blood serum, is known to be a sensor of pathologies in the human organism; however, label-free methods for its assessment directly in blood serum samples are lacking. In this work, we present a novel analytical methodology for evaluating albumin conformation using the fluorescence parameters of intrinsic blood serum fluorophores excited in the visible range. We first estimate the contribution of various endogenous fluorophores excited in the vicinity of 400 nm to both steady-state fluorescence and fluorescence decay across picosecond and nanosecond time scales, showing that one of the dominant fluorophores is bilirubin, an albumin ligand. In model experiments, we then demonstrate that the structural and photophysical features of bilirubin make its fluorescence decay at picosecond time scale sensitive to conformation of the protein–bilirubin complex. As a final step, it is demonstrated that changes in the ultrafast fluorescence decay parameters of the bilirubin are sensitive enough to detect biologically relevant differences in albumin conformation in serum across different patients. Specifically, we observed statistically significant differences in blood serum albumin’s conformation for patients of different age groups (≤34 years and ≥65 years), suggesting that bilirubin may serve as a promising intrinsic sensor for assessing albumin conformational modifications in blood serum.

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Type
research article
DOI
10.1021/acs.analchem.5c01257
Scopus ID

2-s2.0-105013682291

PubMed ID

40762091

Author(s)
Nurgalieva, Polina K.

Lomonosov Moscow State University

Yakimov, Boris P.

Lomonosov Moscow State University

Gaier, Aleksei V.  

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Vasilieva, Aleksandra D.

Emanuel Institute of Biochemical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences

Maksimov, Eugene G.

Lomonosov Moscow State University

Shirshin, Evgeny A.

Lomonosov Moscow State University

Date Issued

2025-08-19

Published in
Analytical Chemistry
Volume

97

Issue

32

Start page

17357

End page

17367

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
HYLAB  
FunderFunding(s)Grant NumberGrant URL

Lomonosov Moscow State University

City Clinical Hospital

Foundation of Theoretical Physics and Mathematics Development

23-2-10-28-1

Available on Infoscience
September 19, 2025
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/254178
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