Sanchez, E M, Avery, J orcid.org/0000-0002-4015-1802, Gan, J et al. (8 more authors) (2024) Transcutaneous fluorescence spectroscopy: development and characterization of a compact, portable, and fiber-optic sensor. Journal of Biomedical Optics, 29 (02). 027003. ISSN 1083-3668
Abstract
Significance: The integrity of the intestinal barrier is gaining recognition as a significant contributor to various pathophysiological conditions, including inflammatory bowel disease, celiac disease, environmental enteric dysfunction (EED), and malnutrition. EED, for example, manifests as complex structural and functional changes in the small intestine leading to increased intestinal permeability, inflammation, and reduced absorption of nutrients. Despite the importance of gut function, current techniques to assess intestinal permeability (such as endoscopic biopsies or dual sugar assays) are either highly invasive, unreliable, and/or difficult to perform in certain patient populations (e.g., infants).
Aim: We present a portable, optical sensor based on transcutaneous fluorescence spectroscopy to assess gut function (in particular, intestinal permeability) in a fast and noninvasive manner.
Approach: Participants receive an oral dose of a fluorescent contrast agent, and a wearable fiber-optic probe detects the permeation of the contrast agent from the gut into the blood stream by measuring the fluorescence intensity noninvasively at the fingertip. We characterized the performance of our compact optical sensor by comparing it against an existing benchtop spectroscopic system. In addition, we report results from a human study in healthy volunteers investigating the impact of skin tone and contrast agent dose on transcutaneous fluorescence signals.
Results: The first study with eight healthy participants showed good correlation between our compact sensor and the existing benchtop spectroscopic system [correlation coefficient ðrÞ > 0.919, p < 0.001]. Further experiments in 14 healthy participants revealed an approximately linear relationship between the ingested contrast agent dose and the collected signal intensity. Finally, a parallel study on the impact of different skin tones showed no significant differences in signal levels between participants with different skin tones (p > 0.05).
Conclusions: In this paper, we demonstrate the potential of our compact transcutaneous fluorescence sensor for noninvasive monitoring of intestinal health.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI. [DOI: 10.1117/1.JBO.29.2.027003] . |
Keywords: | optical sensing; transcutaneous fluorescence spectroscopy; noninvasive; gut permeability |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Electronic & Electrical Engineering (Leeds) > Robotics, Autonomous Systems & Sensing (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 15 Mar 2024 10:40 |
Last Modified: | 15 Mar 2024 10:40 |
Published Version: | https://www.spiedigitallibrary.org/journals/journa... |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Society of Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers |
Identification Number: | 10.1117/1.jbo.29.2.027003 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:210292 |