Microneedle Sensors for Point‐of‐Care Diagnostics

Abstract

Point‐of‐care (POC) has the capacity to support low‐cost, accurate and real‐time actionable diagnostic data. Microneedle sensors have received considerable attention as an emerging technique to evolve blood‐based diagnostics owing to their direct and painless access to a rich source of biomarkers from interstitial fluid. This review systematically summarizes the recent innovations in microneedle sensors with a particular focus on their utility in POC diagnostics and personalized medicine. The integration of various sensing techniques, mostly electrochemical and optical sensing, has been established in diverse architectures of “lab‐on‐a‐microneedle” platforms. Microneedle sensors with tailored geometries, mechanical flexibility, and biocompatibility are constructed with a variety of materials and fabrication methods. Microneedles categorized into four types: metals, inorganics, polymers, and hydrogels, have been elaborated with state‐of‐the‐art bioengineering strategies for minimally invasive, continuous, and multiplexed sensing. Microneedle sensors have been employed to detect a wide range of biomarkers from electrolytes, metabolites, polysaccharides, nucleic acids, proteins to drugs. Insightful perspectives are outlined from biofluid, microneedles, biosensors, POC devices, and theragnostic instruments, which depict a bright future of the upcoming personalized and intelligent health management.

Review—Smart Wearable Sensors for Health and Lifestyle Monitoring: Commercial and Emerging Solutions

“…Another emerging smart wearable sensor that has gained significant attention is microneedle sensors, which intend to combine sensing technologies and micro-needles for biomolecule investigation to advance point-of-care (POC) health monitoring. 79 Microneedle sensors consist of a micron-scale needle collection, enabling a shallow penetration depth to provide a minimally invasive method to puncture the skin near-painless. 80,81 The microstructure of the micro-needles is significant in the extraction of bodily fluids.…”

Polymeric Microneedles for Health Care Monitoring: An Emerging Trend

“…There are different types of MNs reported in literature, however for monitoring approaches only solid, hollow, coated, and swellable are utilized (Figure ). These MNs can be made of varied materials, including silicon, metals, biomaterials, and polymers. − The choice of MN fabrication process depends on the materials used, critical dimensions required, and functionalities. MN fabrication can be divided based on the type of MN into different categories, each having its advantages and disadvantages.…”

“…During the last decades, several MN reviews have been published to cover the wide depth and breadth of MN technology in the drug delivery and cosmetics sectors. − Different review articles have also been published covering the developments in ISF sampling, MN-based sensors/wearables, and wearable electrochemical sensors. ,− Although there are plenty reviews focused on the application of polymeric MNs for drug delivery applications, − there are only a few covering the use of polymeric MNs for health monitoring. , As such, we devised this review to summarize the work that has been recently published on this topic and provide an outlook on the role of polymeric MNs in diagnostics and its potential for the future of the healthcare market. We start with a discussion of the types of MNs and their fabrication approaches and then present a detailed overview of the recent work published on the use of MNs for diagnostics.…”

“…MNs for sensing applications can be produced from a variety of materials, such as silicon, metals or polymers. − However, polymeric MNs have been recently attracting attention in the fabrication of monitoring devices because of their enhanced biocompatibility, advantageous mechanical properties, easy, low-cost and reproducible manufacture, ability to quickly draw ISF, and large variety of physicochemical properties. − …”

Recent Advances in Wearable Healthcare Devices: From Material to Application

“…Serum and blood plasma have been the gold standard for diagnosis for a long time [200]. However, taking blood is invasive and painful, thus, it's unsuitable for realtime, point-of-care diagnosis.…”