Glucose Monitoring in Adipose Tissue Using Open Flow Microperfusion

During the last years a method for continuous on-line ex vivo monitoring of the subcutaneous tissue glucose was developed at the Department of Biophysics. This method combines open-flow microperfusion of subcutaneous adipose tissue with extracorporeal sensing of perfusate glucose and perfusate conductivity, thus allowing the estimation of interstitial glucose concentration without any in vivo calibration. The aim of the current study was to assess the accuracy of this monitoring technique under various experimental conditions in humans. Therefore, healthy volunteers as well as patients with type I diabetes participate in hyper- hypo- and euglycaemic clamp studies where the plasma glucose levels are clamped to different targets. The results show that under those experimental conditions the continuous monitoring of subcutaneous adipose tissue glucose concentration was possible with good accuracy.