Noninvasive real-time breath test for controlling hormonal background of the human body: detection of serotonin and melatonin with quantum point-contact sensors

Abstract Significant progress in development of noninvasive diagnostic tools based on breath analysis can be expected if one employs a real-time detection method based on finding a spectral breath profile which would contain some energy characteristics of the analyzed gas mixture. Using the fundamental energy parameters of a quantum system, it is possible to determine with a high accuracy its quantitative and qualitative composition. Among the most efficient tools to measure energy characteristics of quantum systems are sensors based on Yanson point contacts. This paper reports the results of serotonin and melatonin detection as an example of testing the human hormonal background with point-contact sensors, which have already demonstrated their high efficiency in detecting carcinogenic strains of Helicobacter pylori and selective detection of complex gas mixtures. When comparing the values of serotonin and melatonin with the characteristic parameters of the spectral profile of the exhaled breath of each patient, high correlation dependences of the concentration of serotonin and melatonin with a number of characteristic parameters of the response curve of the point-contact sensor were found. The performed correlation analysis was complemented with the regression analysis. As a result, empiric regression relations were proposed to realize in practice the new non-invasive breath test for evaluation of the human hormonal background. Registration of the patient’s breath profile using point-contact sensors makes it possible to easily monitor the dynamics of changes in the human hormonal background and perform a quantitative evaluation of serotonin and melatonin levels in the human body in real time without invasive interventions (blood collection) and expensive equipment or reagents.