Scientists from the American company Draper Laboratories are working on a special tattoo, in which the color of the ink changes with the blood glucose level. As team principal Heather Clark explains, to fulfill its function, the tattoo should be only a few millimeters in diameter. Moreover – it doesn't have to be that deep, how the decorations are made, every day in showrooms. Initially, the Americans did not intend to work on the glucose-sensitive nanoink at all. Instead, they managed to obtain a dye that reacts to sodium levels, which was supposed to help in monitoring the condition of the heart and the body's water and electrolyte balance. Clark explains, that monitoring a single ion is a much easier task than tracking a large molecule, which consists of 24 atoms. However, scientists decided to try. The ink particles resemble spongy spheres, and their diameter is approx. 120 nanometers. The interior is divided into 3 parts. One contains a molecule that detects glucose, in the second, a color-changing dye, and in the third, a molecule that mimics sugar. When it all dissolves in the water, looks like a food coloring. The three elements are constantly moving around the hydrophobic orbit. Upon approaching the surface of the sphere, the glucose-responsive molecule traps either sugar, or a relationship that mimics him. When most of the “the detector” binds to glucose, ink turns yellow. When the detector-glucose-like molecule complexes predominate, the tattoo is scarlet. On normal (not too low, not too high) glucose concentration, the image turns orange. The sampling process is repeated, every few milliseconds.
There is, however, a legitimate concern, that the sugar level under the skin may not reflect the level found in your blood test. Clark considers, however, that her team's research can help answer the question, to what extent the skin lags behind plasma. Even, if the delay is long, watching the tattoo, diabetic is able to tell, whether the significantly elevated or lowered sugar level returns to normal, or whether his condition is deteriorating. The sodium cation detector has already been tested in mice, and the results were really promising. Similarly checked by the end of February (also on rodents) glucose systems will remain. Human testing will most likely start sooner than after 2 patch.
