Patch With Needles Holds Diabetes at Bay

An intelligent patch, which monitors and regulates the blood sugar level, could make life much easier for diabetics in the future.

Pills every day, frequent blood sugar level measurements, and insulin injections. That's life for 257 million people with type 2 diabetes. But life could be much easier in the future.

Instead, they will only need to replace an upper arm patch once a week. The patch includes microscopic needles that measure the blood sugar level. If it is too high, the needles release the exendin-4 hormone that makes the pancreas release insulin. Insulin ensures that the sugar of the blood is broken down and absorbed by body cells as energy. When the blood sugar level has once again been reduced, the patch releases no more hormones. The patch takes advantage of the fact that the pancreas of many diabetics can produce some insulin, although it is not enough. The ability to regulate the release of hormones makes the patch unique. The mechanism was created by filling the needles with copper phos-phate, which combines with the blood sugar.

When the blood sugar level rises, the pH value of the blood falls. The needles include exendin-4 deposits bound to calcium phosphate. Low pH makes calcium phosphate release exendin-4 to the blood. When the blood sugar reaches a normal level, the pH value of the blood rises again, and the patch halts the release of exendin-4. Tests on mice at the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering in the US, saw blood sugar levels regulated for up to one week.