Sensor eletroquímico baseado em nanoestruturas de carbono para monitoramento contínuo de glicose em animais

Abstract

Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is a disease caused by insufficient production or malabsorption of insulin, a hormone that regulates blood glucose and providing energy for the body. Within Veterinary Medicine, DM is one of the most diagnosed endocrinopathies in small animal clinic, which can lead to serious complications. Therefore, when the diagnosis is made correctly, and its monitoring and treatment are carried out, it can lead to stabilization of the disease and prolonged quality of life. The most common method for day-to-day monitoring is capillary measurement, but this can cause stress in the animals, often leading to treatment failure. Thus, a continuous glucose monitoring device is indicated, as it is less invasive and provides data on variations in interstitial glucose concentration, however it is expensive. In this way, the present work aims to produce a more accessible glucose biosensor compared to the one available on the market. It was produced using conductive platforms composed of laser-induced graphene electrodes, which were characterized electrochemically and morphologically. Modifications with different nanoparticles were also studied in order to increase the sensitivity and stability of the sensor platform, aiming at obtaining a low-cost glucose biosensor. By modifying the sensors with copper sulfate and the addition of urea, sensors with a low detection limit (10.46 µM), good sensitivity and response in the glucose concentration range between 3 and 4000 µM were obtained, in addition to presenting electrodes morphologically more uniform and homogeneous. The synthesis of copper nanostructures through the direct laser engraving process proved to be effective, simple, fast and low cost, making this route promising for future studies.