Fluorescent Glucose Sensors from Polyion Microshells

描述(申请人提供)：需要非侵入性血糖监测来减少采血的痛苦，这是改善糖尿病患者血糖控制的重要一步。糟糕的控制会导致令人衰弱的并发症，但与测试相关的麻烦通常会导致患者对推荐的监测频率的依从性较低。可经皮监测的植入式荧光传感器的概念将是解决这一问题的一个有吸引力的解决方案，但已经确定了实际使用的许多障碍。这项工作的目的是使用聚电解质微胶囊来克服以前提出的系统的缺点。在过去的几年里，制造这些结构的方法已经被开发出来，可以精确地控制机械和化学性能，因此，可以对结构进行调整以适应不同的应用。最近的工作已经对这些纳米结构胶囊的性质产生了基础知识，但很少有实际应用的报道。由于没有进行生物医学应用，因此没有做任何工作来评估所用材料的生物相容性。一个跨学科的研究小组将评估聚电解质微胶囊作为荧光传感化学载体的潜力，使用考虑材料、化学、光学和生物特性的传感器设计的综合方法。这项工作将澄清有关封装过程的基本问题，然后使用这些数据来设计具有临床相关响应特性的传感器特性。随着时间的推移，将在越来越多的生理条件下评估结构的稳定性，并将确定克服污垢和酶降解问题的方法，以使进展继续下去。最后，将从分子到设备水平，在体外和体内研究所用材料的生物兼容性，以确定基线宿主反应和设备故障的风险因素。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Non-invasive glucose monitoring is desired to reduce the pain of blood sampling, which is an important step toward improved control of blood glucose for diabetics. Poor control results in debilitating complications, but the bother associated with testing typically leads to low patient compliance with recommended monitoring frequencies. The concept of implantable fluorescent sensors that can be monitored transdermally would be an attractive solution to the problem, but many obstacles to practical use have been identified. This work aims to use polyelectrolyte microcapsules to overcome drawbacks of previously proposed systems. Methods for fabricating these structures have been developed over the past few years, with precision control over mechanical and chemical properties, thus, "tuning" of the structures to fit different applications may be possible. Recent work has produced fundamental knowledge on the properties of these nanostructured capsules, yet there has been little reported by way of practical application. Since biomedical applications have not been pursued, no work has been done to assess the biocompatibility of the materials used. An interdisciplinary research team will evaluate the potential for polyelectrolyte microcapsules to function as carriers for fluorescence sensing chemistry using an integrative approach to sensor design that considers material, chemical, optical, and biological properties. The work will clarify basic questions regarding the process of encapsulation, then use these data to engineer sensor properties that will possess clinically relevant response characteristics. The stability of the structures will be assessed over time in increasingly physiological conditions, and methods to overcome problems with fouling and enzyme degradation will be identified to allow progress to continue. Finally, the biocompatibility of the materials used will be studied from molecule to device level, in vitro and in vivo, to determine baseline host response and risk factors for device failure.