A new type of device, a temporary and flexible tattoo, would allow blood sugar monitoring. In the future, this device would prevent diabetics from pricking their fingertips.
People with diabetes know it all too well: controlling blood sugar by taking a drop of blood from your fingertip 3 to 5 times a day is no picnic. Nanoengineers from the University of California have developed a temporary and flexible tattoo that allows both to extract and measure the glucose level of its wearer, according to a study published in Analytical Chemistry.
This sensor was developed and tested by Amay Bandodkar of the Nanoengineering Department at the University of San Diego. It is a flexible device, composed of electrodes “printed” on a temporary film.
No feeling of discomfort
The tattoo was tested on 7 men and women between the ages of 20 and 40 with no history of diabetes. Participants reported no feeling of discomfort, just a slight tingling within 10 seconds of the pose. After a meal rich in carbohydrates, the device manages, just as well as a conventional meter, to detect and assess the peak in blood sugar. It is based on an already existing, but very large device, the GlucoWatch bracelet, which was uncomfortable because of the electrical voltage used to detect glucose. This temporary tattoo gets around the problem by using a gentle but still effective current.
If for the moment the tattoo does not provide an easy reading of the blood glucose data taken – necessary for the patient to be able to monitor his glucose level – it is already developing: ” [le tatouage] will have Bluetooth, in order to send this information directly to the patient’s doctor in real time, or to store them in the cloud, ”explains Amay Bandodkar.
If this device is currently being developed for blood sugar control, it could in the future be assigned to other objectives: control of other bodily components, or even the delivery of drugs.
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