Fluorescent sensors could help researchers see diabetes in action

Researchers from the University of Bath have developed fluorescent molecular probes that can detect changes in glucose levels inside living animals, providing a new way to visualize sugar uptake and study diabetes, cancer, and other metabolic diseases in real-time. The interdisciplinary team designed these probes using boronic acids, which selectively bind to sugars, combined with advanced imaging technologies.

The probes were able to detect glucose changes in both cultured cells and living zebrafish, with the zebrafish model demonstrating the probes' ability to detect glucose fluctuations caused by insulin deficiency. This development could lead to next-generation tools for investigating metabolic disorders and precision diagnostic technologies.

Brief written by urgent.news from Phys.org's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.