Wearable contact lenses attract great interest as a minimally invasive diagnostic platform. With advances in biomaterials, electronics and microfabrication, contact lenses offer the potential to analyze the concentration of biomarkers of interest in tears. Emerging wearable contact lenses typically involve external electrodes and batteries, signal processing and wireless transmission, which is accompanied by increased stiffness in the contact lenses and do not have direct means for detecting tears or storing small volumes of tears. Here, we developed a UV-curable biomaterial with good biocompatibility, hydrophilicity and elasticity for fabricating flexible, wearable contact lenses. The contact lens defined a set of tear inlets that allowed tears to flow spontaneously through the capillary network and reservoirs. The previously embedded chemical substrates responded via colorimetric methods to biomarkers in the tears, such as glucose, chloride and urea. Then, the external device took pictures and read the RGB values in the photos to obtain the concentration range of the biomarkers. Furthermore, in vitro tests using an artificial microfluidic hydrogel eyeball device demonstrated the convenient and reliable operation of the lens. Our work offers a new paradigm for noninvasive, multi-target microfluidic contact lenses with capillary networks for tear storage and diagnostics. The fabricated contact lens could serve as an immense point-of-care diagnostic platform in the future.

中文翻译：

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具有毛细管网络的柔性、可穿戴微流体隐形眼镜，用于泪液诊断

可穿戴隐形眼镜作为一种微创诊断平台引起了人们的极大兴趣。随着生物材料、电子产品和微加工的进步，隐形眼镜提供了分析眼泪中感兴趣的生物标志物浓度的潜力。新兴的可穿戴隐形眼镜通常涉及外部电极和电池、信号处理和无线传输，这伴随着隐形眼镜硬度的增加，并且没有检测眼泪或储存少量眼泪的直接手段。在这里，我们开发了一种具有良好生物相容性、亲水性和弹性的紫外线固化生物材料，用于制造柔性、可穿戴隐形眼镜。隐形眼镜定义了一组泪液入口，允许泪液自发地流过毛细血管网络和水库。先前嵌入的化学底物通过比色法对眼泪中的生物标志物做出反应，例如葡萄糖、氯化物和尿素。然后，外部设备拍照并读取照片中的RGB值，以获得生物标志物的浓度范围。此外，使用人工微流体水凝胶眼球装置的体外测试证明了晶状体的方便和可靠的操作。我们的工作为具有用于泪液储存和诊断的毛细血管网络的无创、多目标微流体隐形眼镜提供了一种新的范例。制造的隐形眼镜将来可以作为一个巨大的即时诊断平台。外部设备拍照并读取照片中的RGB值，以获得生物标志物的浓度范围。此外，使用人工微流体水凝胶眼球装置的体外测试证明了晶状体的方便和可靠的操作。我们的工作为具有用于泪液储存和诊断的毛细血管网络的无创、多目标微流体隐形眼镜提供了一种新的范例。制造的隐形眼镜将来可以作为一个巨大的即时诊断平台。外部设备拍照并读取照片中的RGB值以获得生物标志物的浓度范围。此外，使用人工微流体水凝胶眼球装置的体外测试证明了晶状体的方便和可靠的操作。我们的工作为具有用于泪液储存和诊断的毛细血管网络的无创、多目标微流体隐形眼镜提供了一种新的范例。制造的隐形眼镜将来可以作为一个巨大的即时诊断平台。具有用于泪液储存和诊断的毛细管网络的多目标微流体隐形眼镜。制造的隐形眼镜将来可以作为一个巨大的即时诊断平台。具有用于泪液储存和诊断的毛细管网络的多目标微流体隐形眼镜。制造的隐形眼镜将来可以作为一个巨大的即时诊断平台。