Glucose monitoring: state of the art and future possibilities

This article reviews the development of glucose monitoring techniques and approaches during the last decade. The predominance of the electrochemical measuring principles reported in the literature makes them a focus of this work. Biosensors are still in the main stream of the research interest of most teams due to their high selectivity for glucose determination. Systematization and classification of the glucose monitoring principles and types of glucose sensors is shown. The review gives a brief description of the basic operational principles of the most popular types of glucose biosensors, providing an enhanced bibliography of the original works of the main groups in establishing or significantly contributing to the development of the particular type of glucose biosensor. Different design approaches are overviewed including needle-type sensors, sensors for chronical implantation and the combination of the glucose biosensors with microdialysis sampling technique. The authors approach for replacing of the spent enzyme and thus recharging the sensor in situ while implanted is widely discussed. This approach provides a way to increase the lifespan of the system and ultimately, it could lead to rare transcutaneous interventions for refilling of the implanted sensor.