For years, diabetics have been using a tiny drop of blood from a finger prick to accurately detect blood sugar glucose levels. Researchers at West Virginia University (WVU) www.wvu.edu funded by the National Institute Neurological Disorders and Stroke www.ninds.nih.gov are developing a similar device to diagnose two very different types of problems such as Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and secondly to determine if there are heavy metals in water supplies.
Some signs of TBI occur either as an isolated injury or along with other injuries. Some signs or symptoms may appear immediately after the traumatic event while other symptoms may appear days or weeks later.
Mild TBI may cause temporary dysfunction of brain cells. More serious traumatic brain injury can result in bruising, torn tissues, bleeding and other physical damage to the brain that can result in long-term complications or even death. In even the mildest cases, prompt attention and accurate diagnosis are key to ensuring brain health.
Brain imaging using CT scans and MRIs are commonly used to diagnose the most severe cases. In addition, TBI cases are diagnosed using a blood sample, which is drawn in a laboratory by a healthcare professional than sent for processing. To date, no in vitro diagnostic tool is commercially available to rapidly identify and differentiate between mild and severe cases of TBI.
According to Nianqiang Wu, Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering www.mae.statler.wvu.edu, and Principal Investigator for the project, “We are working to create a type of test strip that will be able to test for TBI biomarkers or proteins in the blood. By using a drop of blood from a finger prick, the strip could be administered by virtually anyone at the time of injury and dramatically reduce the amount of time needed to begin treatment.”
Wu notes that the strip could have applications in areas ranging from athletics to the military and could be especially useful treating young children. “Since children are not little adults, they may lack the ability to verbalize their symptoms. The use of test strips could avoid such an unchecked risk.”
Heavy metals have entered the water supply from industrial and consumer wastes, acid rain, power plants, and vehicle emissions. Long term exposure can cause cancer as well as create central and peripheral nervous system and circulatory damage.
Wu said, “There is a strong incentive to develop convenient, cost effective, and field-deployable sensors for monitoring heavy metals in the environment. While the premise for developing this strip is similar to the one we are developing for TBI, it will function on a different operating principle. The strip will use three fluorescent sensors to detect the level of the metal present.”
Another interesting use for this type of strip would be in dental applications. Wu reports, “Amalgam fillings composed of mercury and silver have been widely used for decades with a steady decline in their use in developed countries however, their use continues to rise worldwide. It will possible to place a drop of saliva on a test strip to determine the amount of these metals that are leaking into a person’s mouth.”
The team from WVU estimates that it will take about three years before they will have testable prototypes and if all goes well plans to have the test strips in the marketplace in the near future.
For more information, email Mary Dillon at Mary.Dillon@mail.wvu.edu or call 304-293-4086.