Before the 1980s are over, diabetic patients may be wearing a contact lens that keeps track of blood glucose levels and perhaps monitors other metabolites as well.
That hope is offered by Oklahoma City researchers whose initial studies indicate that optical rotation by the aqueous humor can be measured noninvasively quickly and accurately enough to determine what has happened in the body only a few seconds before.
Optical rotation by the aqueous humor reflects the glucose concentration in that fluid. In turn, the glucose concentration in aqueous humor is known to vary proportionately with levels in the blood.
When optical rotation occurs, an optically active substance (glucose in this case) changes the plane of polarized light so that the light rotates in an arc. The length of the arc is proportional to the concentration of the substance.
Wayne F. March, MD, University of Oklahoma Medical Center, told a Research to
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