Emerging biotechnologies for evaluating disruption of stress, sleep, and circadian rhythm mechanism using aptamer-based detection of salivary biomarkers

Apr 15, 2022Biotechnology advances

New technologies using saliva tests to detect changes in stress, sleep, and body clock systems

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Circadian Biology on OpenScience ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Abstract

New biosensor techniques may enable high sensitivity and specificity in measuring biomarkers related to stress, sleep, and circadian rhythms in saliva.

Circadian rhythms regulate various physiological processes and are influenced by external light cues.
Peripheral biological clocks can sustain their own rhythms and are significantly synchronized by feeding.
Disruption of the circadian clock may lead to endocrine and metabolic issues, potentially causing inflammation.
Accurate assessment of circadian disruption is challenging, highlighting a need for improved diagnostic tools.
Aptamer-based biosensors show promise for detecting salivary biomarkers linked to stress and sleep.
Current literature reveals gaps in the detection of low concentrations of biomarkers, indicating a need for further research.

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The internally driven 24-h cycle in humans, called circadian rhythm, controls physiological, metabolic, and hormonal processes, and is tied to the circadian clocks ticking in most of the cells and tissues. The central clock, located in suprachiasmatic nuclei of the hypothalamus, is directly influenced by external cues, particularly light, and entrains the peripheral clocks through neural and hormonal pathways to the external light-dark cycle. However, peripheral clocks also have self-sustained circadian rhythmicity and feeding is the potent synchronizer. The internal clock system regulates the sleep-wake cycle and maintains stress responses through the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis and autonomic pathways. Any misalignment in this complex network could lead to circadian clock disruption and endocrine and metabolic dysfunction that may induce inflammatory responses. The detrimental consequences of such dysfunction are broad and can lead to serious health problems; however, the extent of the circadian disruption is difficult to assess. New promising techniques based on biosensors and point-of-care devices using aptamers - single-stranded DNA or RNA biorecognition molecules that can measure biomarkers of stress, sleep, and circadian rhythms in bodily fluids such as saliva with high sensitivity and specificity - can provide timely and accurate diagnosis and allow for effective implementation of behavioral and therapeutic interventions. This review provides detailed insight into the complex crosstalk between stress, sleep, and circadian rhythm, their relationship with the body's homeostasis, and the consequences of circadian dysregulation. The review also summarizes the mechanisms of aptamer-based biosensors and/or point-of-care devices developed to date for the detection of salivary biomarkers linked to stress, sleep, and circadian rhythm. Lastly, the review outlines the knowledge gaps in the literature related to the detection of lower concentrations of biomarkers in saliva and discusses the prospects of aptamer-based detection of salivary biomarkers from a high-precision perspective that is crucial for clinical diagnosis, at a time when circadian disruption is evident in unprecedented proportions across the globe.

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Emerging biotechnologies for evaluating disruption of stress, sleep, and circadian rhythm mechanism using aptamer-based detection of salivary biomarkers

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