Wearable salivary uric acid mouthguard biosensor with integrated wireless electronics

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Analytical Chemistry
• Wearable Technology

Background:

• Salivary uric acid (SUA) monitoring is crucial for diagnosing conditions like hyperuricemia.
• Current monitoring methods are often invasive or lack real-time capabilities.
• Wearable biosensors offer a promising avenue for continuous, non-invasive health tracking.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an instrumented mouthguard for non-invasive, real-time monitoring of salivary uric acid (SUA) levels.
• To integrate miniaturized electronics and a biosensing system onto a wearable platform.
• To enable wireless data transmission for convenient health diagnostics.

Main Methods:

• An enzyme (uricase)-modified screen-printed electrode was integrated onto a mouthguard.
• Miniaturized instrumentation, including a potentiostat, microcontroller, and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) transceiver, was incorporated.
• The system was designed for real-time wireless data transmission to consumer electronics.

Main Results:

• The mouthguard biosensor demonstrated high sensitivity, selectivity, and stability for SUA detection in human saliva.
• The system accurately measured SUA across concentration ranges relevant to healthy individuals and hyperuricemia patients.
• Real-time, continuous monitoring of SUA levels was achieved wirelessly.

Conclusions:

• The developed wireless mouthguard biosensor provides a novel, non-invasive method for monitoring SUA.
• This wearable technology facilitates continuous health tracking and early detection of metabolic disorders.
• The platform is expandable for multi-analyte detection, paving the way for advanced wearable health systems.