Nature Communications<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u201cOur compact fiber probe offers a unique solution to measure these compounds simultaneously, providing a more complete picture of the metabolic state.\u201d<\/p>\n
Glucose monitoring is crucial for diabetes management, while lactate levels can indicate sepsis or tissue hypoxia. Ethanol monitoring is essential in cases of alcohol intoxication, addiction treatment, and alcohol-related liver or brain injuries.<\/p>\n
These three molecules are also important for general health, fitness, and metabolic assessment. Their concentrations provide insight into energy utilization, physical performance, and overall physiological stress. Continuous or point\u2011of\u2011care tracking of glucose, lactate, and ethanol can therefore support early diagnosis, guide clinical interventions, and enable personalized wellness monitoring in both medical and everyday settings.<\/p>\n
Traditionally, these biomarkers are measured separately using different devices, which can be time-consuming, invasive, and costly. Compared to microdialysis, a common method for in vivo measurement of small molecules that requires collecting fluid samples for analysis, the fiber probe tracks biomarkers directly in the tissue, offering real-time results continuously.<\/p>\n
In the case of a patient suffering from a severe traumatic brain injury, a microdialysis probe is inserted into the brain to monitor chemical changes that guide clinical management. However, this method is highly labor\u2011intensive and only provides delayed information, as samples must be collected, processed and analyzed offline. This delay limits clinicians\u2019 ability to respond rapidly to evolving metabolic crises, underscoring the need for continuous, real\u2011time sensing technologies that can offer immediate insight into cerebral chemistry.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn an intensive care unit where every second counts; they need this information rapidly,\u201d Hutter says.<\/p>\n
The mid-infrared fiber probe is designed with two silver halide optical fibers housed in a durable polyetheretherketone (PEEK) tube, surrounded by a semi-permeable membrane. One fiber has an angled tip for delivering and collecting light, while the other is coated with gold to act as a mirror.<\/p>\n
The membrane prevents direct contact between the sensing region and tissue, enhancing biocompatibility and reducing interference from large compounds like proteins.<\/p>\n
The probe is connected to a quantum cascade laser (QCL) for providing mid-infrared light, which interacts with molecules in the tissue.<\/p>\n
Each molecule absorbs light at specific wavelengths, creating a unique spectral signature, and the extent of light absorption is proportional to its concentration, enabling quantification. The probe does not react or alter the molecules; it simply measures their response to light.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnlike microdialysis, it doesn\u2019t disturb the local tissue environment, so it is more representative of what\u2019s actually happening inside the tissue,\u201d says Tse-Ang Lee, a PhD student in Hutter\u2019s lab and a coauthor on the new paper.<\/p>\n
The device is intended for use by clinicians in hospitals and other medical settings, but the technology also has the potential to be adapted into a wearable consumer device for wellness monitoring.<\/p>\n
Discovery to Impact, the University\u2019s research commercialization unit, has filed a patent application, which can be licensed to an appropriate industry partner.<\/p>\n
Source: UT Austin<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Share this Article You are free to share this article under the Attribution 4.0 International license. A new…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":403811,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[16225,4252,134,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-403810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-biomarkers","tag-glucose","tag-health","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403810\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/403811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}