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For millions of people living with diabetes, continuous glucose monitors provide a real-time picture of glucose levels, helping users manage medication, diet and day-to-day activities. But despite their benefits, the devices remain out of reach for some patients due to cost.

Researchers at Texas A&M University have taken a step toward addressing that challenge by identifying a lower-cost component for an experimental injectable glucose sensor. In a study published in ACS Measurement Science Au, the team demonstrated that a sensing material costing roughly one-tenth as much as a commonly used alternative delivered similar performance.

The work centers on a nonenzymatic glucose-sensing platform that uses fluorescent molecules to measure glucose concentrations. Unlike many glucose-monitoring systems that rely on enzymes, the Texas A&M approach uses near-infrared fluorescence, allowing researchers to track changes in glucose levels through changes in light signals.

The sensing system works through competitive binding: As glucose concentrations increase, glucose molecules compete with a fluorescent sugar compound for available binding sites on a protein known as concanavalin A, or ConA. That interaction changes the fluorescent signal, allowing glucose levels to be measured without the use of enzymes.

The researchers compared several glucose-binding compounds and found that β-mannopentaose, a significantly less expensive material than the α-mannopentaose compound used in earlier versions of the technology, provided comparable sensing performance. The lower-cost material also performed well in artificial interstitial fluid, a solution designed to mimic the environment beneath the skin.

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