Bioresorbable Nanostructured Chemical Sensor for Monitoring of pH Level In Vivo.

Area of Science:

• Biomaterials Science
• Nanotechnology
• Sensor Technology

Background:

• Accurate in vivo pH monitoring is crucial for understanding physiological processes.
• Existing sensors often lack biocompatibility or biodegradability, limiting long-term applications.
• Development of advanced biosensors is needed for continuous health monitoring.

Purpose of the Study:

• To report the manufacturing and in vivo assessment of a novel bioresorbable nanostructured pH sensor.
• To evaluate the sensor's performance for real-time pH monitoring in biological tissues.
• To confirm the sensor's biocompatibility and degradation profile in an animal model.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a nanostructured sensor using a porous silica membrane coated with polyelectrolyte multilayers.
• Incorporation of a pH-insensitive fluorophore for fluorescence-based pH detection.
• In vivo implantation in mice for continuous pH monitoring and subsequent histological analysis.

Main Results:

• The sensor exhibited a linear fluorescence response to pH changes between 4 and 7.5.
• Real-time pH measurements were achieved with high stability, reproducibility, and accuracy over 100 hours.
• Full sensor degradation occurred within one week post-implantation, with confirmed biocompatibility after two months.

Conclusions:

• The developed bioresorbable nanostructured pH sensor enables reliable in vivo monitoring.
• The sensor technology is biocompatible and offers a promising platform for implantable chemical sensing.
• This approach can be extended for detecting other biomarkers by functionalizing polyelectrolytes with specific receptors.