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Managing diabetes with a graphene patch
*IMAGES*
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Embargo
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London: Monday 21 March 2016 16:00 (GMT)
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New York: Monday 21 March 2016 12:00 (EDT)
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Tokyo: Tuesday 22 March 2016 01:00 (JST)
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Sydney: Tuesday 22 March 2016 03:00 (AEDT)
A wearable, sweat-sensing patch that can monitor and regulate blood glucose levels is described
in a paper published online this week in Nature Nanotechnology. The graphene-based patch is
shown to deliver metformin, a drug used to treat diabetes, through the skin to reduce high blood
glucose levels in diabetic mice.
A minimally- or non-invasive method for monitoring blood glucose levels in diabetes is much
sought after, and detecting glucose in sweat is a potential alternative to finger pricking, which can
be painful and has low patient compliance. Graphene shows promise for use in wearable
electronics as it is flexible, conducts electricity, and can be transparent, soft and very thin.
However, the way that it is synthesized limits its use in electrochemical devices for the detection
of biochemical markers, such as pH, ions, and biomolecules.
Dae-Hyeong Kim and colleagues added gold particles to graphene and combined it with a gold
mesh to create a flexible, semi-transparent patch and demonstrated its potential for diabetes
monitoring and feedback therapy in diabetic mice and two healthy human males. The patch
contains a variety of sensors that detect humidity, glucose, pH and temperature. Because the
enzyme-based glucose sensor is affected by pH changes in sweat, the pH and temperature
sensors correct the glucose measurements by taking into account pH and temperature in real
time, improving its reliability. Finally, when the patch senses a high glucose concentration in
sweat, heaters embedded in the patch trigger microneedles to dissolve their coat and release the
drug metformin. The authors note that the drug delivery components of the patch will need to be
scaled up before the patch can be trialled with human patients.
In an accompanying News & Views article, Richard Guy writes: “…although the holy grail of
diabetes management — a non-invasive feedback system combining glucose monitoring and
responsive drug delivery — is not yet at hand, Kim and co-workers have certainly moved the field
closer to this coveted prize.”
Article and author details
1. A graphene-based electrochemical device with
thermoresponsive microneedles for diabetes monitoring and
therapy
Corresponding Author
Dae-Hyeong Kim, Seoul
Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Seoul, South Korea
Email: [email protected], Tel: +82 2880 1634
News & Views Author
Richard Guy, Bath
University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom
Email: [email protected]
DOI
10.1038/nnano.2016.38
Online paper*
http://nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/nnano.2016.38
* Please link to the article in online versions of your report (the URL will go live after the embargo ends).
Geographical listings of authors
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United States