Technique / Molecular Biology / Transfection and infection / Electroporation

Method to introduce foreign DNA into host cells by electric pulse interruption of host cell's phospholipid bilayer membrane.

BACKGROUND: In people with diabetes, blood glucose levels should be regularly monitored to prevent serious complications associated with diabetes. This involves invasive method of withdrawing blood which causes inconvenience to patients. The objective of the study was to investigate the efficiency of noninvasive Electroporation and Transcutaneous Sampling (ETS) technique for predicting blood glucose levels. METHODS: In vitro studies were carried out in Franz diffusion cells using porcine epidermis to assess the feasibility of transcutaneous sampling of glucose. In vivo, the ETS technique was assessed in diabetes induced sprague dawley rat model. Glucose was sampled following the application of 30 electrical pulses of 1ms duration at 120 V/cm(2), 1 Hz. Clarke Error Grid Analysis was carried out for the venous blood glucose levels that were determined by ETS with reference to that measured by glucose meter. RESULTS: The amount of glucose sampled by the ETS method in both in vitro and in vivo was proportional to the dermal glucose concentration. All the data points from in vivo studies were in A and B zones of Clarke error grid analysis and the mean absolute relative error was found to be 12.8%. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the present study demonstrate that ETS technique could be developed as a noninvasive method of predicting venous blood glucose levels in diabetics.