A US team have devised a simple device using specially designed floss that can easily and accurately measure cortisol, a stress hormone, in real time.
Their research is published in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces.
The design by a Tufts interdisciplinary engineer and his team of a saliva-sensing dental floss looks just like a common floss pick, with the string stretched across two prongs extending from a flat plastic handle, all about the size of an index finger. The saliva is picked up by capillary action through a very narrow channel in the floss. The fluid is drawn into the pick handle and an attached tab, where it spreads across electrodes that detect the cortisol.
Cortisol recognition on the electrodes is accomplished with a technology developed almost 30 years ago called electropolymerised molecularly imprinted polymers (eMIPs). They work similarly to the way one might make a plaster cast of a hand. A polymer is formed around a template molecule, in this case cortisol, which is later removed to leave behind binding sites. These sites have a physical and chemical shape ‘memory’ of the target molecule so they can bind free-floating molecules that are coming in.
The eMIP moulds are versatile, so one can create dental floss sensors that detect other molecules that can be found in saliva, such as estrogen for fertility tracking, glucose for diabetes monitoring, or markers for cancer. There is also potential for detecting multiple biomarkers in saliva at the same time, for more accurate monitoring of stress, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and other conditions.
“The eMIP approach is a game changer,” Professor Sameer Sonkusale said.
