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Science has managed to come up with a discovery that can change the way we understand the diagnosis and control of diseases.
And it has done so thanks to a device made up of gold nanoparticles, which, located under our skin, would reveal changes in the concentration of certain substances in our body such as drugs or different groups of proteins.
It would be a unique way to understand in almost real time the information that our body transmits about how the treatment against a disease is or is not working.
An implantable sensor that continuously transmits this information about our vital values, concentration of substances, existence of drugs... in the body would be enough.
Furthermore, the analyzes indicate that these nanoparticles They would be able to function for several months, something that had not been achieved to date.
How the "invisible tattoo" works
The research, which began in 2004 in the hands of the professor Carsten Soennichsen, has gone through different processes to reach the point where it is currently.
«A project of this type requires many people with different scientific backgrounds. Step by step we were able to convince more and more people of our idea,” Soennichsen acknowledges.
But how does this “invisible tattoo” work?
The gold nanoparticles manage to act as small antennas for light. They are responsible for absorbing and dispersing it, enhancing its colorful appearance.
Following this analysis, the nanoparticles are embedded in a porous-touch hydrogel that has a consistency very similar to that of any tissue, and once implanted under the subject's skin, cells and small blood vessels grow around those pores.
In this way, it is also possible to overcome one of the main problems known to date in this field, which is, or was, the rejection of any "foreign object."
Once inside, the drug molecules, in the case of the German research, reach the sensor through the bloodstream and when they come into contact with it, a color change is caused that varies depending on the concentration of the drug detected. .
The changes are noticeable thanks to a special measuring device, not with the naked eye.
To obtain these results, and as pointed out in the study published in Nano Letters, Soennichsen's research implanted gold nanoparticle sensors under the skin of hairless rats, to then monitor the color changes of the sensors after the administration of various doses. of an antibiotic.
It has been several years of analysis of gold nanoparticles in contact with different proteins to reach the current innovative point.
