Yan Jiamin, Wang Junping, Wu Zhongdong, Li Zihan, Li Zhihui, Hu Zongqian
College of Textiles and Clothing, Xinjiang University, Urumqi, 830046, Xinjiang, China; Beijing Institute of Radiation Medicine, Beijing, 100850, China.
Beijing Institute of Radiation Medicine, Beijing, 100850, China; School of Mechanical Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, 200 Xiaolingwei Street, Nanjing, 210094, China.
Anal Chim Acta. 2025 Oct 8;1370:344320. doi: 10.1016/j.aca.2025.344320. Epub 2025 Jun 18.
Real-time in situ monitoring of wound physiologic information in clinical practice is essential to assist healthcare professionals in assessing the status of a patient's wound and the healing process, with glucose levels recognized as a key factor in assisting healthcare professionals in assessing the status of a patient's wound. The form factor of planar flexible sensors limits them primarily to the skin surface and superficial wound areas, while fiber-based biosensors, due to their excellent flexibility and mechanical strength, can provide comfortable human-machine interfaces and thus have the potential to realize real-time monitoring of blood glucose levels in deep wounds of the skin. However, they still have drawbacks of being relatively single-function and requiring external power sources. Here, we innovatively propose bioelectronic sutures with glucose-sensing based on Fiber Biofuel Cells (Fiber BFC) for real-time in situ monitoring of glucose at wound sites. Fiber BFC utilized porous gold-plated cotton fibers (defined as "10-TAF") as base electrodes. The fiber anode was assembled with glucose oxidase (GOx) as the catalyst, tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) as the electron mediator for the catalysis of glucose molecules, and the fiber cathode was assembled with Pt NPs as the catalyst for the reduction of O. The results showed that Fiber BFC exhibited good flexibility and tensile strength (tensile deformation at break rate of 27 % and Young's modulus of 2795.41 MPa), with mechanical properties comparable to those of medical sutures, and possessed the ability to be steadily monitored in multifarious complex environments. In addition, the P of Fiber BFC remained above 90.4 % after 128 h of intermittent operation. By suturing at abdominal wounds of rats, it was shown that Fiber BFC possesses excellent glucose sensing properties (sensitivity of 9.25 mV mM) and biocompatibility, and can be used as bioelectronic sutures for real-time monitoring of wounds, which is anticipated to replace traditional medical sutures in clinical applications.
在临床实践中对伤口生理信息进行实时原位监测对于帮助医护人员评估患者伤口状况和愈合过程至关重要，其中葡萄糖水平被认为是协助医护人员评估患者伤口状况的关键因素。平面柔性传感器的外形因素主要将其限制在皮肤表面和浅表伤口区域，而基于纤维的生物传感器由于其出色的柔韧性和机械强度，可以提供舒适的人机界面，因此有潜力实现对皮肤深部伤口血糖水平的实时监测。然而，它们仍然存在功能相对单一且需要外部电源的缺点。在此，我们创新性地提出基于纤维生物燃料电池（Fiber BFC）的具有葡萄糖传感功能的生物电子缝线，用于伤口部位葡萄糖的实时原位监测。Fiber BFC利用多孔镀金棉纤维（定义为“10-TAF”）作为基底电极。纤维阳极组装有葡萄糖氧化酶（GOx）作为催化剂、四硫富瓦烯（TTF）作为催化葡萄糖分子的电子介质，纤维阴极组装有Pt NPs作为还原O的催化剂。结果表明，Fiber BFC表现出良好的柔韧性和拉伸强度（断裂伸长率为27%，杨氏模量为2795.41 MPa），其机械性能与医用缝线相当，并且具备在多种复杂环境中稳定监测的能力。此外，Fiber BFC在间歇运行128小时后功率保持在90.4%以上。通过在大鼠腹部伤口进行缝合表明，Fiber BFC具有优异的葡萄糖传感特性（灵敏度为9.25 mV mM）和生物相容性，可作为用于伤口实时监测的生物电子缝线，有望在临床应用中取代传统医用缝线。
