研究:变色纹身可以跟踪你的血糖水平

研究:变色纹身可以跟踪你的血糖水平

Soon, tattoos won’t just show how cool you are — they’ll also show how healthy you are.

很快，纹身不仅能显示你有多酷，还能显示你的健康程度。

Diabetics may soon be able to keep an eye on their glucose levels by getting tatted, all thanks to a new medical breakthrough that gives body art a possibly lifesaving purpose.

糖尿病患者可能很快就能通过皮肤来监测他们的血糖水平，这都要归功于一项新的医学突破，这项突破可能会让人体艺术成为一种救命的手段。

Scientists in Germany recently developed tattoos that change color in response to shifting levels of glucose, albumin or pH level in a person’s blood.

德国科学家最近发明了一种纹身，这种纹身可以根据人体血液中葡萄糖、白蛋白或pH值的变化而改变颜色。

The new tattoos are still permanent, but researchers believe they could also be a simple, low-cost way to let patients with ailments such as diabetes, blood disease or kidney failure get crucial, real-time warnings about their health.

这种新型纹身仍然是永久性的，但研究人员认为，它们也可以是一种简单、低成本的检测方式，让糖尿病、血液病或肾衰竭等疾病的患者获得关键的实时健康警告。

“Body modification by injecting pigments into the dermis layer is a custom more than 4,000 years old,” the researchers from the Technical University of Munich wrote in their recently published paper.

慕尼黑工业大学的研究人员在他们最近发表的论文中写道：“通过向真皮层注入色素来修饰身体是一种4000多年前的习俗。”

“Here, a functional cosmetic technology was developed by combining tattoo artistry and colorimetric biosensors.”

“现在，一种结合纹身艺术和比色生物传感器的功能性美容技术被开发出来。”

The researchers injected the colorimetric biosensors into pieces of pig skin during lab tests, instead of using tattoo ink.

在实验室测试中，研究人员将比色生物传感器注入猪的皮肤，而不是使用纹身墨水。

Much as for regular tats, the needle punctured the epidermis, the uppermost layer of skin, and released the pigments into the dermis below, where they stained the skin permanently. The team of researchers, led by chemical engineer Ali Yetisen, identified and adapted three colorimetric chemical sensors that change hue.

与正常的纹身一样，针头刺穿皮肤最上层的表皮，并将色素释放到下面的真皮，永久性皮肤染色。由化学工程师AliYetisen领导的研究小组，发现并改进了三个能改变颜色的比色化学传感器。

For example, their pH sensor was made of the dyes methyl red, bromothymol blue and phenolphthalein. When injected into skin, the resulting tattoo turned from yellow to blue when the pH levels changed from 5 to 9.

以甲基红、溴百里酚蓝和酚酞为原料制成的pH传感器，注射到皮肤后，当pH值从5变化到9时，纹身就会从黄色变成蓝色。

There’s also a smartphone app the researchers developed to help people “read” the tattoos.

研究人员还开发了一款智能手机应用，帮助人们“阅读”纹身。

Instead of being purely cosmetic, the “minimally invasive” technique could “transform personalized medicine” for people with chronic diseases, the researchers wrote.

研究人员写道，这种“微创”技术可以为慢性病患者“打造个性化医疗”，而不是单纯的为了好看。

“The applications of the sensors can be extended to the detection of electrolytes, proteins, pathogenic microorganisms, gases and dehydration status,” the report said, meaning they could help with a “broad range” of issues.

“传感器的应用可以扩展到电解质、蛋白质、病原微生物、气体和脱水状态的检测，”报告称，这意味着它们可以帮助解决“广泛”的问题。

The researchers haven’t tested the “biosensors” on human skin yet. Their paper was published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Angewandte Chemie.

研究人员还没有在人类皮肤上测试这种“生物传感器”。他们的论文发表在同行评审的科学杂志《Angewandte Chemie》上。