Components of an integrated microfluidic device for continuous glucose monitoring with responsive insulin delivery

Miniaturized medical diagnostic and treatment devices are currently being developed. Microneedles and miniaturized microdialysis systems are particularly well suited to impact diabetes treatment for continuous glucose monitoring and feedback-controlled insulin delivery. Microneedles are an attractive advanced drug delivery system used to mechanically penetrate the skin and inject insulin intradermally where it is rapidly absorbed by the capillary bed into the bloodstream. The real advantage of microneedle-enhanced drug delivery lies in the fact that drug is actively injected into a patient so the dosage may be varied with time to allow complex drug delivery profiles. The delivery is independent of the drug composition and merely relies on the subsequent drug absorption into the bloodstream. A miniaturized microdialysis probe for continuous glucose sensing has also been designed. Microdialysis is based upon controlling the mass transfer rate of glucose diffusing across a semipermeable membrane into a dialysis fluid while excluding larger molecules such as proteins. Polymer microdialysis membranes are integrated with microfluidic systems. Because of the high surface area to fluid volume ratio of miniaturized fluid channels, faster recovery of glucose to increase glucose sensing frequency is expected. This work highlights recent advances made in the design and fabrication of microneedles to make them more biocompatible and more fracture resistant in order to effectively enter the biomedical market. In addition, the design of a miniaturized microdialysis system for increased glucose sampling frequency is presented. The sensing and infusion technologies may be combined into a miniaturized "artificial pancreas" for minimally invasive feedback-controlled insulin delivery.