Diabetics must endure the pain of repeated insulin injections A new invention from North Carolina State University (UNC) may end this torture. Researchers created the first "smart insulin patch." This thin, smart patch the size of a coin is covered with more than 100 eye-sized "mini-needles" filled with traces of insulin. If the blood sugar level is too high, it can quickly detect and release insulin. Published in the minutes of the National Academy of Sciences,
discovered a new painless patch that can last up to 9 hours in type 1 diabetic mice. Smart stickers need more clinical trials before they can be used for diabetics, but the prospects are promising.
Diabetes affects 387 million people worldwide, and this number will increase to 592 million by 2035. Patients with type I and type II diabetes should check their blood sugar levels and regularly inject insulin. This process is painful, but not very accurate. Injecting the wrong amount of medicine can cause blindness, disconnection, coma and even death. Dr. Gu Zhen (Acoustics), professor of UNC Biomedical Engineering and author of the paper, said that this painless smart patch made of non-toxic and biocompatible materials can quickly and easily personalize diabetic patients. It points out that it can work. According to a report by Physicist Organisationetwork on 23, researchers have created a "closed loop system" to eliminate human errors that may occur directly between the blood glucose tester and the insulin controller. The connection is established. They mimic the working principle of the "human body's natural insulin generator" beta cells to produce and store insulin in vesicles, sense the increase in blood sugar levels, and send out insulin release signals like an alarm center. The realization of the function of artificial vesicles depends on two natural materials that are easy to find. One is hyaluronic acid (HA), which is found in many cosmetics. The other is an organic compound commonly used for diagnosis. 2-Nitroimidazole (NI). They combined two materials into a new type of molecule, one end being hydrophilic and the other end being hydrophobic. After mixing, many of these molecules will self-assemble into vesicles, the width of the vesicles is one hundred times the width of human hair, and insert solid insulin and glucose-sensitive enzymes. When blood levels rise, glucose enters artificial vesicles, enzymes convert gluconic acid into oxygen, and hypoxia makes hydrophobic NI molecules hydrophilic. When the vesicle ruptures, insulin is pushed into the subcutaneous capillaries. due to
Mice are not as sensitive to insulin as humans, so the researchers believe that when tested in mice, the "smart insulin patch" will last longer to maintain blood sugar levels. Their goal is to have patients change the stickers every few days.