Microneedle-based Transdermal Sensing of Electrolytes: Towards A Metabolic Panel-

描述(由申请人提供)：代谢检查小组已成为医疗保健领域初步筛查和后续评估的标准调查对象。代谢小组在临床环境中通过抽血进行管理，包括评估14种独特的血液分析仪，这些分析仪指示肾和肝脏功能、电解质和液体平衡、糖尿病、肾脏疾病和高血压。尽管代谢仪表板具有临床实用价值，但抽血过程不便、痛苦，而且只能提供患者特定时刻的代谢功能的快照，从而限制了其对慢性疾病的监测作用。然而，为了有效，慢性疾病的治疗需要协调一致和积极主动地在日常生活中管理医疗保健，如果能够连续(而不是间歇性)地量化循环代谢物和电解质水平，这种努力将大大增强。该项目旨在通过开发“芯片上的新陈代谢面板”来解决传统代谢面板的上述局限性。建议的设备利用我们团队在电化学、3D打印、导电聚合物和表面功能化方面的最新创新，以微创、无痛的方式提供基于血液的电解质的实时图谱，从而显著改善普通人群以及慢性病患者的临床结果。这一研究项目的预期成果包括：(1)开发包含电化学换能器的微创微针阵列，该传感器对钠、钾、氯和重碳酸盐离子具有化学选择性；(2)能够使用高通量、低成本的3D打印方法制造所述微针阵列。这凝聚了微针特遣队功能化的创新技术，并依赖于与新的电化学转换方法相关的离子选择膜的开发。该透皮生物传感器平台的显著特点包括高灵敏度、稳定性、选择性、简单性、通用性和健壮性，其价格适合广泛的医疗保健应用。因此，拟议的微针阵列生物传感器将填补一个长期存在的空白，使医疗保健提供者能够记录、存档和评估患者对各种医疗治疗、药物和治疗的代谢反应，从而改善对慢性病的管理。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The metabolic panel has emerged as the standard line of inquiry for initial screening as well as follow-up assessment in the healthcare domain. Administered via blood draw in the clinical setting, the metabolic panel consists of assessing 14 unique blood-borne analytes indicative of renal and hepatic function, electrolyte and fluid balance, diabetes mellitus, kidney disease, and hypertension. Despite the clinical utility of the metabolic panel, the process of drawing blood is inconvenient, painful, and can only provide a snapshot of the patient's metabolic function at a particular moment in time, thereby limiting its utility for monitoring chronic conditions. However, in order to be effective, treatment of chronic conditions entails a concerted and proactive effort to manage healthcare throughout the daily routine, which would be substantially enhanced if circulating metabolite and electrolyte levels were able to be quantified on a continuous (rather than intermittent) basis. This project aims to address the above limitations of a conventional metabolic panel via the development of a "Metabolic-Panel-on-A-Chip". The proposed device leverages our team's latest innovations in electrochemistry, 3D-printing, conducting polymers, and surface functionalization to tender the real-time profile of blood-based electrolytes in a minimally-invasive, pain-free fashion, thereby leading to substantially improved clinical outcomes among the general population as well as those afflicted with chronic disease. Expected outcomes from this research project include: (1) the development of minimally-invasive microneedle arrays containing electrochemical transducers that exhibit chemical selectivity towards sodium, potassium, chloride, and bicarbonate ions and (2) the ability to fabricate the said microneedle arrays employing high-throughput, low- cost 3D-printing methods. This agglomerates innovative techniques for the functionalization of the microneedle contingents and relies on the development of ion-selective membranes in connection with novel methods of electrochemical transduction. The salient features of this transdermal biosensor platform include high sensitivity, stability, selectivity, simplicity, versatility, and robustness at a price that is amenable to widespread healthcare adoption. The proposed microneedle array biosensor will thus fill a long-standing void by enabling the healthcare provider to record, archive, and assess the metabolic response of the patient to the administration of various medical treatments, medications, and therapies, resulting in improved management of chronic disease.