Nanozyme-loaded colorimetric gelatin methacryloyl microneedles for glucose detection in interstitial fluid.

Authors

Shixian Lin, Ziqing Mao, Mengyao Miao, Wensheng Lin, Min Hu, Xinyan Shi, Ruxi Jin, Xiaoyu Lv, Ruijie Liang, Shijie Wang, Jingyan Li, Yupeng Xie, Fanwen Yang, Xingwu Zhou, Jixiang Zhu

Published in

Analytica chimica acta. Volume 1418. Pages 345861. Oct 08, 2026. Epub Jun 17, 2026.

Abstract

The pursuit of portable glucose monitoring has stimulated growing interest in interstitial fluid (ISF) as an alternative diagnostic medium, due to its strong correlation with blood glucose levels and reduced interference from macromolecular substances. However, the transition toward ISF-based sensing technologies, particularly those employing colorimetric microneedle (MN) patches, has been hindered by the inherent instability of natural enzymes such as horseradish peroxidase (HRP), which undergo significant activity loss under fluctuating environmental conditions. To overcome this critical limitation, we engineered a colorimetric MN patch that leverages the copper oxide nanozymes (CuO NPs) with robust peroxidase-mimicking activity and high stability. The patch was fabricated from a gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) hydrogel matrix co-embedded with glucose oxidase (GOx) and the chromogenic agent 3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB). We demonstrated that within the developed microneedle patch, the nanozyme-enabled system enables glucose level assessment suitable for preliminary screening or trend monitoring across the clinical range of 1.7-21 mmol/L by converting ISF glucose levels into colorimetric signals in mice, with performance showing good agreement with commercial assay kits. The CuO nanozyme-based colorimetric MN patch is easy to operate and requires no professional expertise or large-scale equipment, which suggests potential applicability for future clinical diagnosis and daily monitoring pending additional validation.

PMID:
42567599
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 08 Aug 2026.

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