Skin patch regulates blood sugar

Wednesday March 8th, 2017

Scientists in Seoul have created a device that measures sugar levels in an individual's sweat to monitor their diabetes.

Dr Dae-Hyeong Kim and colleagues at Seoul National University, Korea, say that by analysing just a microlitre of sweat, this device - a patch worn on the skin - could trigger drug delivery if glucose levels become abnormally high.

In studies on participants with diabetes, the device led to "effective glucose monitoring in humans and effective monitoring and drug delivery in mice".

In Science Advances today (8 March), the team states: "Tracking glucose levels via sweat evades the blood collection often used in managing diabetes, but using sweat as a proxy has inherent challenges, including the small quantities continually available, the tedious collection process, and the presence of lactic acid in sweat, which can affect measurements."

In their article, the team outline the structure, design and integration strategy for the patch and its drug delivery system. They explain that it contains three glucose sensors, four pH sensors and a humidity sensor, which monitors the amount of sweat.

"A porous layer between the sensors and sweat uptake layer screens out negatively charged molecules that may affect glucose sensing," they state. "When the accumulated sweat amount is sufficient, glucose is measured with real-time correction by using pH and temperature measurements."

If necessary, a separate component with a layer of microneedles containing diabetes medication is activated and the drugs are delivered through the skin. When tested on mice, the system efficiently reduced blood glucose levels.

The patch works both before and after a meal, they add. They are now working to establish the exact correlation between blood and sweat glucose levels.

Lee, H. et al. Wearable/disposable sweat-based glucose monitoring device with multistage transdermal drug delivery module. Science Advances 8 March 2017 [abstract]

Tags: Asia | Diabetes | Pharmaceuticals

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