Probing glucose-sensitive hydrogel resonators with a portable medical ultrasound imaging system

Diabetes, a prevalent chronic disease, necessitates effective blood glucose monitoring to manage and mitigate its serious complications. Recent studies have introduced a novel approach for implantable continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) utilizing glucose-sensitive smart hydrogel-based resonator sensing elements with ultrasound (US) readout. By using mechanically compliant and potentially highly biocompatible smart hydrogel materials as well as medical ultrasound, this approach provides an effective and minimally invasive CGM solution. While previous results demonstrated proof-of-principle in both in vitro and in vivo experiments, they still used standard and less mobile medical ultrasound equipment, and thus limits the ease-of-use of the approach. In this study, the transition from this full-size and less mobile module to a portable benchtop medical US equipment for exciting and reading out the hydrogel resonators is explored. The results demonstrate the ability of the portable US module to detect the small changes in Mean Gray Value (MGV) in ultrasound images that correspond to the altered state of the smart hydrogel structures in varying glucose environments while maintaining good signal quality. This development represents a step towards a more mobile smart hydrogel resonator-based CGM system that aims to enhance diabetes management and improve patient outcomes.