Monitoring Tear Glucose
January 31, 2012 | Terry Sharrer
Not long after Banting and Macleod won a 1923 Nobel Prize for discovering insulin, scientists began investigating tears as an alternative to blood for measuring glucose levels. Today, a Google search under “tear glucose” turns up many researchers on the subject, including a group at the University of Michigan that has developed an electrochemical sensor for that use. Their device relies on immobilizing glucose oxidase on a platinum/iridium wire; when exposed to tear fluid, an electrical current causes a reaction, releasing hydrogen peroxide, which gives the reading. MORE