Pain-Free and Wireless Luminescent Microneedle Sensor Array for In Situ Monitoring Tissue Oxygenation Status in Diabetic Foot Ulcers.

Abstract

Diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) is a severe complication of diabetes, progressing insidiously at early stages but eventually leading to amputation. Therefore, to effectively bring DFUs under control, early diagnosis is crucial. Recent researches have shown that DFUs progression correlates with tissue oxygenation. This fresh insight, along with lastest development of luminescent microneedles, leads to develop a painless and wireless microneedles sensor array, which can be conveniently used at home to measure tissue oxygenation with minimal invasiveness. The experiment shows that the microneedles array exhibit good mechanical stability, high biocompatibility, and more importantly, excellent measurement accuracy (resolution up to 0.1% oxygen concentration) and stability (> 500,000 tests without scarifying performance) is designed. Successfully applied to monitor tissue oxygenation in mice with DFUs, the luminescence microneedles demonstrate their ability to measure tissue oxygenation states at different stages of DFUs and identify early blood microcirculation damage that is not easily discovered using current clinical methods. The easy-to-use nature of the microneedles and the miniaturized fluorescence sensing technology will allow this approach to be integrated into wearable devices for home-based DFUs diagnosis, providing a simple and effective solution for managing the disease and greatly reducing the risk of diabetes-related amputations.