A smart patch that can detect Parkinson’s disease or Alzheimer’s disease using a microneedle has been developed. Neurodegenerative diseases can be diagnosed without drawing blood. Currently, to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease, it is necessary to undergo a painful cerebrospinal fluid test along with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or positron emission tomography (PET).
The University of Swansea in England announced on the 17th (local time) that a research team led by Professor Sanjeev Sharma of the Department of Biomedical Engineering developed such a smart patch.
The newly developed smart patch identifies biomarkers that can diagnose Alzheimer’s disease while minimally piercing the skin.
The research team installed a wearable sensor on the microneedle attached to the smart patch to check the concentration of interleukin-6 (IL-6), a type of protein. IL-6 is present in the interstitial fluid (ISF) that surrounds the cells of tissues under the skin. While promoting inflammation, it is involved in various diseases, including the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19‧Corona 19). In patients with Alzheimer’s disease, the concentration of IL-6 is lowered.
Using Smart Patch is simple. Apply to the skin for about 6 minutes. You can also self-diagnose at home. “This technology will be a window to check important organs such as the brain through the skin,” said Professor Sharma.
Technologies to increase the convenience of diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease have recently emerged one after another.
A research team led by Professor Thomas Carrigary at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, published a diagnostic method for identifying Alzheimer’s disease in blood taken from the extremities of the body in the international journal ‘Brain’ last month. It is a method to identify biomarkers that detect damage to brain neurons after extracting antibodies that selectively bind to tau protein related to Alzheimer’s disease.
Related research is also active in Korea. Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) Professor Kim Jae-gwan’s research team last year developed a technology to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease by measuring the near-infrared ray signal that appears in the prefrontal cortex when olfactory stimulation is stimulated.
This technology utilizes ‘Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS)’, which measures cerebral blood flow and oxygen saturation by irradiating the head with near-infrared rays that penetrate human tissues well. By asking a patient suspected of having Alzheimer’s disease to smell and then measuring signals from the prefrontal cortex with fNIRS, it is possible to quantitatively find out whether the olfactory function is inferior to that of other people. It is a method to distinguish ‘normal cognitive function’, ‘cognitive dysfunction’, and ‘Alzheimer’s disease’ through the evaluation of olfactory function. The results of the study were published in the international journal ‘Alzheimer’s Research and Treatment’ in March last year.
