Author: Bolysbek Dana
Editor: Merentsova Anastasia
To prevent the complications of diabetes, it is very important to maintain strict glucose control, which in turn requires frequent blood sugar sampling. All existing methods of controlling blood glucose are invasive, and although other non-invasive alternatives have been investigated, none of them has proven effective as a worthy replacement for the above methods.
The authors proposed using tear fluid as a biomaterial for markers of diabetes mellitus as a potential method for monitoring the disease, thus avoiding the need for blood sampling. Previous studies on tear glucose levels have shown that it correlates with blood glucose levels.
The team also looked at glycoalbumin (GA) levels, which reflect the average blood glucose level over the previous 2 weeks; and investigated the relationship between the level of glycoalbumin in tears and in the blood.
Samples of tears and blood from 100 patients with diabetes were collected for analysis. The study found a significant relationship between the levels of glycoalbumin in tears and in the blood. Statistical analysis showed that this correlation persisted even after adjusting important indicators such as age, gender, kidney function and obesity.
Given the strong relationship between GA levels in tears and blood levels, the team suggests using it as a method for non-invasive monitoring of diabetes.
“In the future, we plan to optimize measurement conditions and develop special equipment, as well as test the effectiveness of these methods for monitoring diabetes in clinical trials,” the authors say.
Source: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-09-analysing-non-invasive-diabetes.html
