Biocompatible Fluorescent Hydrogel Fiber for Glucose Monitoring

Diabetes mellitus is one of the leading incurable diseases which may lead to severe health complications due to elevated blood glucose levels. This is mainly caused due to lack of insulin secretion by pancreas (Type I) or when the cells in the body become resistant to insulin (Type II). The key for diabetes treatment is regular monitoring and maintenance of blood glucose levels in the body. We present herein an optical glucose biosensor for glucose monitoring, where a fluorescent enzymatic hydrogel is incorporated with fluorescein, polyethylene glycol and glucose oxidase. Glucose oxidase catalyzes oxidation of glucose to gluconic acid that protonates pH-sensitive fluorescein motif in hydrogel and thus significantly varies its fluorescence which was optically measured and correlated with glucose concentration. Therefore, fluorescence “turn-off” response is observed when glucose responsive hydrogel is exposed to glucose. The development of fluorescent hydrogel further encouraged to develop a fluorescent hydrogel fiber as a potentially optical injectable glucose biosensor for continuous in-vivo glucose monitoring. Both glucose-responsive hydrogel sensor and glucose-responsive hydrogel fiber shows good sensitivity and reproducibility, with the fiber showing much faster response time for glucose detection. The developed glucose biosensing technique has great potential in combating diabetics