Summary: Engineers have developed a new dental dental system that can detect cortisol, a stress -related hormone, by saliva, offering a real -time and painless method for stress monitoring. The device uses polymers with electropolymerized molecular print (EMIP), which act as personalized molds to recognize specific molecules.
With a precision comparable to current biosputors, this technology based on dental silk could follow up on the stress of daily routines. Researchers aim to adapt the system for other saliva health markers, then transform personal health surveillance between conditions.
Key facts:
- Stress detection: The sensor based on dental silk measures the cortisol of saliva using advanced polymer molds.
- Multi-Marker potential: Can be adapted to detect other biomarkers, such as glucose or estrogens.
- Home use: Designed for unused individuals, making daily monitoring of simple and non -invasive stress.
Source: TUFTS University
Chronic stress can cause an increase in blood pressure and cardiovascular disease, a decrease in immune function, depression and anxiety.
Unfortunately, the tools we use to monitor stress are often imprecise or expensive, based on self-assessment questionnaires and psychiatric assessments.
From now on, an interdisciplinary engineer TUFTS and his team have designed a simple device using specially designed dental silk that can easily and with precision cortisol, a stress hormone, in real time.
“It started in a collaboration with several departments through tuffs, examining how stress and other cognitive states affect the solving and learning problems,” said Sameer Sonkusale, professor of electrical and computer engineering.
“We didn’t want the measure to create an additional source of stress, so we thought, can we create a detection device that is part of your daily routine?”
“Cortisol is a stress marker found in saliva, so dental silk seemed to be a natural adjustment to take a daily sample.”
Their design of a saliva detection detection wire looks like a common silk choice, the stretched chain on two teeth extending from a flat plastic handle, all on the size of your index.
The saliva is picked up by a hair action through a very narrow channel in dental silk. The liquid is drawn in the selection handle and an attached tab, where it spreads on the electrodes that detect cortisol.
Recognition of cortisol on electrodes is accomplished with remarkable technology developed almost 30 years ago called polymers with electropolymerized molecular print (EMIP).
They operate similarly to how you could plaster your hand. A polymer is formed around a matrix molecule, in this case, cortisol, which is then removed to leave bond sites. These sites have a physical and chemical “memory” of the target molecule so that they can bind to floating molecules that arrive.
EMIP molds are versatile, so you can create dental wire sensors that detect other molecules that can be found in saliva, such as estrogens for fertility monitoring, glucose for diabetes monitoring or cancer markers.
There is also a potential for detecting multiple biomarkers in saliva at the same time, for more precise monitoring of stress, cardiovascular diseases, cancer and other conditions.
“The EMIP approach changes the game,” said Sonkusale.
“Biosappters have generally been developed using antibodies or other receptors that collect the molecule of interest. Once a marker is found, a lot of work must go to the bio-engineering of the receiver molecule attached to the sensor. The EMIP does not depend on many investments in the manufacture of anties or receivers.
“If you discover a new stress marker or any other disease or condition, you can simply create a polymer flowing in a very short time.”
The accuracy of cortisol sensors is comparable to the most efficient sensors on the market or in development. Bringing this device to the house and in the hands of individuals without the need for training will fold up the surveillance of stress in many aspects of health care.
Currently, Sonkusale and his colleagues create a startup to try to put the product on the market.
He stresses that although the dental wire sensor is quantitatively very precise, the practice of saliva monitoring markers is best for surveillance, not for the initial diagnosis of a condition. This is partly because saliva markers can always have variations between individuals.
“For diagnoses, blood is always the ordeal, but once you are diagnosed and you have put medication, if you have to follow, for example, a cardiovascular condition over time to see if your heart health improves, then watch with the sensor can be easy and allows timely interventions,” he said.
The new research, published in the journal APS materials and interfacesAdd to a certain number of innovations of sensors based on the Sonkusale wire and its research team, including sensors that can detect gases, metabolites in perspiration or movement when integrated into clothing and transistors that can be woven in flexible electronic devices.
About this news of mental health and neurotech research
Author: Mike Silver
Source: TUFTS University
Contact: Mike Silver – TUFTS University
Picture: The image is credited with Neuroscience News
Original search: Closed access.
“Floss of saliva awareness of awareness: an innovative tool to assess stress via a measurement of salivary cortisol on demand with the integration of microfluidics into polymer and molecular print wire” by Sameer Sonkusale et al. APS materials and interfaces
Abstract
Salive-Sensing Detal Floss: an innovative tool to assess stress via a measurement of salivary cortisol on demand with integration into polymer and metro with microfluidal molecular print
The service point-based dental point platform on demand is developed for non-invasive and real-time quantification of salivary cortisol using polymers with redo molecular print and microfluidics of molecular print wire.
Here, we explore the electrode substrate based on large surface graphene to synthesize electrochemically, selective MIPs of cortisol and integrate it with the microfluidic of thread to create a very sensitive cortisol detection platform for the monitoring of constraints.
This platform uses dental silk to collect and transport saliva to a flexible electrochemical sensor via a capillary microfluidic, where cortisol, a stress biomarker, is measured. This strategy allowed us to detect cortisol as low as 0.048 pg ml–1 in real time with a detection range from 0.10 to 10,000 pg ml–1 (R2 = 0.9916).
The saliva detection detection wire provides results in the 11 to 12 min. The microfluidic design based on the thread minimizes interference and ensures coherent repeatability during the test of artificial and real human saliva samples, which gives 98.64 to 102.4% of recovery with a relative standard deviation of 5.01%, demonstrating a high precision and precision.
For the human saliva sample (as part of the stress study), the platform showed a high correlation (R = 0.9910) against conventional ELISA tests.
Combined with wireless reading, this saliva silk offers a practical way to monitor daily stress levels. It can be extended to detect other high sensitivity critical and selectivity saliva biomarkers in complex environments.
