Diagnostic Tattoos could soon help in the process of diseases such as Diabetes or kidney failure track: A Team from the Technical University of Munich has developed Sensors that can be applied to the Tattoo in the skin and metabolic changes in the color change.
The three researchers developed Sensors show changes of pH-value, blood sugar, and protein content by a colour change. The first turns from yellow to blue when the pH value changes from acidic to alkaline range. Another Sensor tracks glucose levels and altered, depending on blood sugar concentration in its structure, whereby it assumes a yellow to dark green coloration. The third turns green, if he comes with the protein Albumin into contact. Albumin is a transport protein in the blood, whose decline indicates a liver or kidney failure.
The scientists have conducted the first Experiments on pigs and, thus, confirms that the Sensor-Tattoos on the pig skin changed their colors in the tattooed areas. The color change was determined with the help of a simple Smartphone camera and an App. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, the researchers report that the "Tätowierfarbe" Changes in the metabolism, without the time delay displayed.
Tattoos for diagnostic and to not only use for cosmetic purposes is a relatively new concept. You could represent a simple and cost-effective technology to monitor patients over long periods of time permanently.
ZOU