Nano Detection of Salivary Glucose for the Early Diagnosis of Diabetes

Diabetes Mellitus is a leading cause of death in the United States with rising rates of diagnosis. Diabetes can be classified into two main types with one developing later in life (Type II) than the other (Type I). Proper detection of glucose level can be helpful for providing appropriate treatment and effective management. The current means of clinical diagnosis for diabetes depends on the use of needles and pricking either to sample blood or reach interstitial fluid. Yet, the problems that arise with this method are the risk of infection from its invasiveness and discomfort it causes. Easy to perform and noninvasive methods are always attractive due to the straightforward and potentially high patient compliance. This research examines an alternative method for predicting blood glucose using saliva, an openly available biofluid that is thus easily sampled. It explores the use of Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) and silver nanoparticles to conveniently detect salivary glucose. Advantages that come with this technique include its noninvasive nature, simplicity, and effectiveness. This study also analyzes the surface enhancement for glucose in Raman spectroscopy and correlation between glucose concentration and Raman.