研究:變色紋身可以跟蹤你的血糖水平

研究:變色紋身可以跟蹤你的血糖水平

Soon, tattoos won’t just show how cool you are — they’ll also show how healthy you are.

很快，紋身不僅能顯示你有多酷，還能顯示你的健康程度。

Diabetics may soon be able to keep an eye on their glucose levels by getting tatted, all thanks to a new medical breakthrough that gives body art a possibly lifesaving purpose.

糖尿病患者可能很快就能通過皮膚來監(jiān)測他們的血糖水平，這都要歸功于一項新的醫(yī)學突破，這項突破可能會讓人體藝術成為一種救命的手段。

Scientists in Germany recently developed tattoos that change color in response to shifting levels of glucose, albumin or pH level in a person’s blood.

德國科學家最近發(fā)明了一種紋身，這種紋身可以根據人體血液中葡萄糖、白蛋白或pH值的變化而改變顏色。

The new tattoos are still permanent, but researchers believe they could also be a simple, low-cost way to let patients with ailments such as diabetes, blood disease or kidney failure get crucial, real-time warnings about their health.

這種新型紋身仍然是永久性的，但研究人員認為，它們也可以是一種簡單、低成本的檢測方式，讓糖尿病、血液病或腎衰竭等疾病的患者獲得關鍵的實時健康警告。

“Body modification by injecting pigments into the dermis layer is a custom more than 4,000 years old,” the researchers from the Technical University of Munich wrote in their recently published paper.

慕尼黑工業(yè)大學的研究人員在他們最近發(fā)表的論文中寫道：“通過向真皮層注入色素來修飾身體是一種4000多年前的習俗。”

“Here, a functional cosmetic technology was developed by combining tattoo artistry and colorimetric biosensors.”

“現(xiàn)在，一種結合紋身藝術和比色生物傳感器的功能性美容技術被開發(fā)出來。”

The researchers injected the colorimetric biosensors into pieces of pig skin during lab tests, instead of using tattoo ink.

在實驗室測試中，研究人員將比色生物傳感器注入豬的皮膚，而不是使用紋身墨水。

Much as for regular tats, the needle punctured the epidermis, the uppermost layer of skin, and released the pigments into the dermis below, where they stained the skin permanently. The team of researchers, led by chemical engineer Ali Yetisen, identified and adapted three colorimetric chemical sensors that change hue.

與正常的紋身一樣，針頭刺穿皮膚最上層的表皮，并將色素釋放到下面的真皮，永久性皮膚染色。由化學工程師AliYetisen領導的研究小組，發(fā)現(xiàn)并改進了三個能改變顏色的比色化學傳感器。

For example, their pH sensor was made of the dyes methyl red, bromothymol blue and phenolphthalein. When injected into skin, the resulting tattoo turned from yellow to blue when the pH levels changed from 5 to 9.

以甲基紅、溴百里酚藍和酚酞為原料制成的pH傳感器，注射到皮膚后，當pH值從5變化到9時，紋身就會從黃色變成藍色。

There’s also a smartphone app the researchers developed to help people “read” the tattoos.

研究人員還開發(fā)了一款智能手機應用，幫助人們“閱讀”紋身。

Instead of being purely cosmetic, the “minimally invasive” technique could “transform personalized medicine” for people with chronic diseases, the researchers wrote.

研究人員寫道，這種“微創(chuàng)”技術可以為慢性病患者“打造個性化醫(yī)療”，而不是單純的為了好看。

“The applications of the sensors can be extended to the detection of electrolytes, proteins, pathogenic microorganisms, gases and dehydration status,” the report said, meaning they could help with a “broad range” of issues.

“傳感器的應用可以擴展到電解質、蛋白質、病原微生物、氣體和脫水狀態(tài)的檢測，”報告稱，這意味著它們可以幫助解決“廣泛”的問題。

The researchers haven’t tested the “biosensors” on human skin yet. Their paper was published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Angewandte Chemie.

研究人員還沒有在人類皮膚上測試這種“生物傳感器”。他們的論文發(fā)表在同行評審的科學雜志《Angewandte Chemie》上。