Dual Foreign Body Response Mitigation Strategies for Implantable Glucose Sensors

While nitric oxide (NO) release from polyurethane (PU) sensor membranes has shown promise as a foreign body response (FBR) mitigation strategy to enhance the performance of implantable glucose sensors, its utility is ultimately limited by release duration. Further improvement is envisioned by combining electrospun fibers with NO release. Electrospinning process parameters that produce average fiber diameters of 670 and 1460 nm as the outer membrane of NO‐releasing glucose sensors, are developed to not impact NO‐release or sensor performance. An in vivo evaluation in a diabetic porcine model demonstrates a reduced inflammatory response for 670 versus 1460 nm fibers. This benefit appears to continue with a robust pro‐wound healing response beyond the NO‐release duration. At short periods (i.e., 11‐d post‐implantation), FBR mitigation is attributed to NO release and not the presence of fibers. Still, no negative effects are observed with the 670 nm fibers in this acute phase of the FBR. Taken together, the tissue response data demonstrate 670 nm fibers as a promising long‐term FBR mitigation strategy.