Paper-based colorimetric detecton of transdermal glucose using microneedle-patch made of methacrylated hyaluronic acid

As an important medical analyte, glucose is an indicator of various diseases, especially diabetes mellitus or hypoglycemia. A glucose meter is one of the most common medical devices for measuring the approximate concentration of blood glucose. However, piercing skin to obtain blood samples using lancets may cause tissue damage and discomfort among patients. Microneedle(MN) is a novel and minimally invasive device widely explored in the past decade. It can be applied to skin surfaces and painlessly pierce the epidermis and parts of the dermis, as it is long enough to contact interstitial fluid but avoid puncturing dermal blood vessels and nerves. The glucose in interstitial fluid is diffused from plasma as blood circulates through the capillary system and its concentration can be indicative of trends in blood. This paper proposes a convenient, disposable and minimally invasive paper-based colorimetric method for transdermal glucose detection. It consists of a methacrylated hyaluronic acid (MeHA) microneedle (MN) for in-situ sampling of interstitial fluid and a enzymatic paper-based glucose sensor. It is indicated in the experiment that the MNs can change color after 10 minutes of penetration into simulated skin (agarose gel) and different concentration of glucose presented in the agarose gel result in different color intensity for the paper-based sensor. This paper-based MN-patch platform for transdermal glucose detection shows great potential for the application of minimally invasive biosensors in the future.Bachelor of Engineering (Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering