New nanotechnology is being adapted to act and look as 'ink' in new tattoos targeted at diabetics. Why diabetics? It responds to and measures glucose levels in the people who get tat'd up, responding through color like a mood ring. Painful pricks and blood meters may soon be a thing of the past.
In one of the many examples of how science works, the nanotech behind this was an accidental byproduct. Originally designed to try and measure sodium in athletes concerned with losing electrolytes, a dangerous and in the hotter southern United States not uncommonly fatal condition tied to heat stroke and dehydration. Sodium is a large and unwieldy chemical that proved impossible to deal with for the time being because of it's many forms and arrangements. The lead scientist behind it, somewhat dejected, was talking to a colleague who suggested modifying it to test for glucose, which is much more uniform and smaller to boot. The results are simply amazing. The technology behind it is no less incredible, either:
She started with the basic three-part system to detect sodium and modified to detect glucose. The nano ink particles are tiny, squishy spheres about 120 nanometers across. Inside the sphere are three parts: the glucose detecting molecule, a color-changing dye, and another molecule that mimics glucose. When the particles are dissolved in water they look like food coloring, says Clark.
The three parts continuously move around the inside the hydrophobic orb. When they approach the surface, the glucose detecting molecule either grabs a molecule of glucose or the mimicking molecule.
If the molecules mostly latch onto glucose, the ink appears yellow. If glucose levels are low, the molecule latches onto the glucose mimic, turning the ink purple. A healthy level of glucose has a "funny orangey," color, according to Clark. The sampling process repeats itself every few milliseconds.
At the moment, the tattoos are targeted and small, the size of a dot drawn with a ballpoint pin, but they're leaving the door open to larger, more artistic designs in the future. And, in a turn about from the usual with people wanting ink, it's first application in the minds of those working on it seems to be toward children, who most often complain about the pain of blood testing, and who may not be able to operate or properly read the small glucose measuring devices in use today.
Eight-year-old Julia Balobeck needs to prick her fingers so many times each day that the tips of her digits have started to turn numb and black. Even at her age, she understands that the needle sticks are crucial to keep track of her blood sugar levels and manage her Type 1 diabetes, but she’d really like someone to find a better way.
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Julia Balobeck has her fingers crossed. “I just had my birthday and at my party I had to test my blood sugar five times,” she says. “It would make my life a ton better if I didn’t have to prick my fingers anymore.”
Tattooed mice drinking a glucose-water mixture, with the caption from MSNBC:
In new experiments, tattoos on the backs of mice change colors as the animals drink sugar water. This technology could one day allow diabetics to skip their needle-prick tests.
As always, you're further reading on the topic:
MSNBC
Discovery News