Gold in your veins?!

Scientists at Germany’s Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz have developed what some would call a subdermal “tattoo” that can help doctors monitor medication levels in their patients’ bloodstream.

It’s a small device, but could have a big impact on the medical world…

How is this a subdermal “tattoo”?

This “tattoo” is actually a tiny tissue-like device. It’s about the size of a penny and thinner than one millimeter. But don’t let its size fool you!

The “tattoo sensor” consists of biocompatible porous hydrogel that holds gold nanoparticles covered with receptors that respond to specific drug molecules.

The sensor must be surgically implanted under the skin. Once that’s successful, blood vessels grow through the hydrogel pores and carry the blood to the nanoparticles.

The medicine that’s in the bloodstream then latches on the receptors which allow the gold to reflect infrared light in a certain color. The color depends on the amount of the drug that’s present in the bloodstream.

This will help doctors monitor patients remotely to find the proper dosage.

Medicine monitoring of the future

The nanoparticles can only be seen using a special infrared reader that will show through the skin, making it a very discreet medical device.  

As of right now, it’s still in development. The device has already been tested in hairless lab rats that have accurately shown antibiotic levels that were in their blood.

These German subdermal sensors stand out because they’ve remained operational for several months, unlike others that have been developed which are stable for only a few days.

This longevity could help prevent medical complications that often arise from inaccurate prescriptions. In the future, it could also be advanced enough to identify various medical conditions and take the guessing out of prescribing accurate treatments.