JP2012130566A - Biological information measuring apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To measure biological information such as glucose concentration in a living body in real time.SOLUTION: This biological information measuring apparatus 1 includes a puncture part 2 arranged in the living body B, with its leading edge stuck into the skin A, and a body part 3 connected to the puncture part 2. The puncture part 2 includes a fluid holding space provided at the leading edge to allow an interstitial fluid existing in the living body B to flow in; a sensor 5 arranged in the fluid holding space to detect information including biological information in the interstitial fluid and to output it as an electric signal or an optical signal to the body part 3; and a supply/discharge means 11 for sucking the interstitial fluid into the fluid holding space and discharging the interstitial fluid from the fluid holding space.

Description

  The present invention relates to a biological information measuring device.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a leachate suction device that sucks leachate from a biological surface and measures the concentration of a biochemical substance in the leachate is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
This exudate sucking apparatus sucks out the exuded exudate and sends it to the main body part away from the suction port, and measures the biochemical substance concentration in the biosensor part arranged in the main body part.

JP-A-8-336511

However, the exudate sucking device of Patent Document 1 requires a long time until measurement because the sucked leachate can be measured only after the sucked leachate is sent to the main body part away from the suction port. There is an inconvenience that it is not possible to carry out the measurement at.
This invention is made | formed in view of the situation mentioned above, Comprising: It aims at providing the biological information measuring device which can measure biological information like glucose concentration in a biological body in real time.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides the following means.
The present invention includes a puncture portion whose tip is punctured into the skin and disposed in the living body, and a main body portion connected to the puncture portion, and the puncture portion is provided at the tip and exists in the living body. An interstitial fluid flowing space, and a liquid retaining space that is disposed in the liquid retaining space, detects information including biological information in the interstitial fluid that has flowed into the liquid retaining space, and is used as an electrical signal or an optical signal. Provided is a biological information measuring device including a sensor that outputs to a main body and a supply / discharge unit that sucks the interstitial fluid into the liquid retaining space and discharges the interstitial liquid from the liquid retaining space.

  According to the present invention, the skin is punctured by the tip of the puncture portion and the tip is placed in the living body, and the interstitial fluid in the living body is caused to flow into the liquid holding space by operating the supply / discharge means. By operating the sensor arranged inside, information including biological information in the interstitial fluid is detected by the sensor and output to the main body as an electric signal or an optical signal. A fresh interstitial fluid can be accommodated in the liquid retaining space by sucking and discharging the interstitial fluid into the liquid retaining space arranged at the tip of the puncture portion. And since a sensor outputs a detection result to a main-body part as an electrical signal or an optical signal, the time which measurement of biometric information requires can be shortened, and it can measure in real time.

  In the above invention, the sensor includes a light emitting unit that emits light of a predetermined wavelength and a light receiving unit that receives light that has passed through the interstitial fluid, and is output from the light receiving unit to the main body unit. A biological information calculation unit that calculates biological information based on an electrical signal or an optical signal may be provided.

  By doing so, when light of a predetermined wavelength is irradiated to the interstitial liquid in the liquid retention space from the light emitting unit constituting the sensor, a part of the irradiated light is absorbed by the interstitial liquid. And received by the light receiving unit. As a result, the light received by the light receiving unit includes the biological information contained in the interstitial fluid, and the biological information can be calculated by the biological information calculating unit provided in the main body. .

  In the above invention, the sensor is a fluorescent substance that generates fluorescence according to the amount of the biological component when irradiated with excitation light by interaction with the biological component contained in the interstitial fluid; You may provide the light emission part which emits the excitation light irradiated toward a fluorescent substance, and the light receiving element which detects the fluorescence emitted from the said fluorescent substance, and converts it into an electrical signal.

  According to the present invention, when the puncture portion is punctured into the skin and the tip is disposed in the living body, the interstitial fluid existing in the living body flows in the liquid retaining space around the sensor and is disposed in the living body. The fluorescent material is denatured by the interaction with the biological component, and fluorescence corresponding to the amount of the biological component is generated by the excitation light emitted from the light emitting unit. The generated fluorescence is detected by the light receiving element, converted into an electrical signal, and output. Fluorescence is not attenuated, and the amount of biological components in the living body can be measured with high accuracy.

In the above-mentioned invention, a controller for controlling the supply / discharge means and the sensor may be provided so that suction and discharge by the supply / discharge means and detection by the sensor are performed in different time zones.
In this way, the control unit performs the suction and discharge of the interstitial fluid by the supply / discharge means and the detection of the biological information by the sensor in different time zones, so that the interstitial fluid is sucked or discharged. In addition, it is not necessary to perform measurement by the sensor during the fluctuation of the biological information in the liquid retaining space, and the biological information can be measured accurately in a stable state.

  According to the present invention, there is an effect that biological information such as glucose concentration in a living body can be measured in real time.

It is a whole lineblock diagram showing the living body information measuring device concerning one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view showing a distal end portion of a puncture portion of the biological information measuring device in FIG. 1. It is a timing chart explaining operation | movement of the biometric information measuring apparatus of FIG. It is an enlarged vertical sectional view which shows the modification of the puncture part of the biometric information measuring apparatus of FIG. FIG. 10 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view showing another modification of the puncture portion of the biological information measuring device in FIG. 1. It is an enlarged longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows the modification of the supply / discharge means of the biological information measuring device of FIG. It is an enlarged longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows the modification of the sensor of the biological information measuring device of FIG.

The biological information measuring apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
As shown in FIG. 1, the biological information measuring apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment includes a puncture unit 2 whose tip is punctured from the skin surface A and placed in the living body B, and a main body connected to the puncture unit 2 Part 3.

As shown in FIG. 2, the puncture unit 2 is provided with a partitioned space (liquid holding space) 4 at the tip thereof, and a sensor 5 is provided in the space 4.
In the present embodiment, the sensor 5 includes a fluorescent member 6 that is disposed in the space 4 and contains a fluorescent material, and an LED (light emitting unit) 7 that is disposed adjacent to the fluorescent member 6 and generates light of a predetermined wavelength. A photodiode (PD, light receiving element) 8 that is disposed on the opposite side of the LED 7 across the fluorescent member 6 and detects fluorescence emitted from the fluorescent member 6, and is disposed between the photodiode 8 and the fluorescent member 6. The filter 9 is provided. The sensor 5 is provided with a shielding lid 10 disposed at a position to close the openings 4a and 4b.

  The fluorescent member 6 includes a fluorescent substance in a transparent base material. Examples of the base material include materials capable of permeating interstitial fluid flowing into the living body B, for example, hydrogels that easily contain water.

  As the fluorescent substance, a fluorescent dye that generates fluorescence having an intensity corresponding to the amount of the biological component to be measured, that is, the concentration of the biological component in the interstitial fluid is selected. When glucose is to be measured as a biological component, a substance that generates fluorescence by interaction with glucose, such as a ruthenium complex, a fluorescent phenylboronic acid derivative, or a substance that reversibly binds to glucose such as fluorescein bound to protein Can be used.

  The photodiode 8 has sensitivity in a wavelength band including the wavelength of the fluorescence emitted from the fluorescent material, and converts the fluorescence to be detected into a current corresponding to the intensity. The filter 9 has a wavelength characteristic that blocks light in the wavelength band of excitation light from the LED 7 to be described later and transmits light in a wavelength band including the fluorescence wavelength band. The shielding lid 10 is made of a porous material that allows inflow and outflow of interstitial fluid flowing outside the space 4 and blocks the incidence of external light.

In addition, the biological information measuring apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment includes supply / discharge means 11 that sucks and discharges interstitial fluid into the space 4.
As shown in FIG. 1, the supply / discharge means 11 opens and closes an intake pump 13 and an air supply pump 14 disposed in a conduit 12 connected to the puncture unit 2, and the conduits 12 to the pumps 13 and 14. Valves V1 and V2 are provided. The intake pump 13, the air supply pump 14, and the valves V <b> 1 and V <b> 2 are disposed in the main body 3.

  The main body 3 includes a biological information calculation unit 15 that calculates a biological component concentration based on a current signal sent from the photodiode 8, an LED 7, a photodiode 8, an intake pump 13, an air supply pump 14, and A control unit 16 for controlling the valves V1, V2 is provided.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the control unit opens and closes the valves V1 and V2, thereby sucking interstitial fluid into the space 4 and discharging the interstitial fluid from the space 4, and the LED 7 and The detection period for operating the photodiode 8 is separated and performed separately.

The operation of the biological information measuring apparatus 1 according to this embodiment configured as described above will be described below.
In order to measure biological information, for example, glucose concentration, using the biological information measuring apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment, the puncture unit 2 is stabbed from the outer surface of the skin A as shown in FIG. B is reached.

  In this state, the control unit 16 operates the air supply pump 14 and the intake pump 15, and controls the valves V1 and V2 to perform suction from the space 4 at the tip of the puncture unit 2 and air supply to the space 4. Let it be repeated. When suction from the space 4 is performed, the inside of the space 4 is depressurized. As a result, the speed at which the surrounding interstitial fluid diffuses into the space 4 is increased. Further, by repeatedly sucking and discharging the interstitial fluid into the space 4, the interstitial fluid diffusing into the space 4 is replaced, and the biological information can be measured in real time.

  After the end of the supply / discharge period, the control unit 16 drives the LED 7 and the photodiode 8 to generate excitation light from the LED 7, thereby modifying the fluorescent material to emit fluorescence by interaction with the interstitial fluid. Fluorescence is generated from the light, and only the fluorescence transmitted through the filter 9 can be detected by the photodiode 8. The photodiode 8 outputs a current signal corresponding to the detected fluorescence amount toward the main body unit 3 so that the biological information calculation unit 15 of the main body unit 3 calculates the biological component concentration detected in real time. Can do.

  In this case, according to the biological information measuring apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment, information including the biological component concentration is electrically sent to the main body unit 3 by the photodiode 8 disposed at the tip of the puncture unit 2. Compared with the case where the exudate is sucked to the outside of the body and measured, there is an advantage that it can be measured in real time in a short time.

  In the present embodiment, the interstitial fluid is sucked into and discharged from the space 4 provided at the tip of the puncture unit 2 and measurement is performed. The biological component concentration can be measured for the substance fluid. Thereby, biological information can be measured accurately.

  Further, in the present embodiment, since the suction / discharge period during which the interstitial fluid is sucked or discharged into the space 4 and the detection period during which the biological information is detected are controlled separately, the control is performed in the space 4. It is possible to prevent the detection during the supply / discharge period when the biological information is unstable, and to measure the stable and accurate biological information.

  In the present embodiment, the space 4 provided at the tip of the puncture unit 2 is directly sucked or discharged by the supply / discharge means 11 and the interstitial fluid in the space 4 is actively replaced. Instead, as shown in FIG. 4, the interstitial fluid is caused to flow out of the space 4 by the supply / discharge means 11 to indirectly increase the diffusion rate of the interstitial fluid into the space 4. You may decide.

In this embodiment, the interstitial fluid is replaced by repeating the suction and discharge into the space 4 by controlling the valves V1 and V2, but instead, as shown in FIG. Alternatively, the interstitial fluid in the space 4 may be always replaced with fresh interstitial fluid by suctioning from outside the space 4 and causing the interstitial fluid to flow in one direction in the space 4. In this case, the interstitial fluid that has passed through the space 4 may be stored in the storage space 17 adjacent to the space.
By doing in this way, it is not necessary to provide the air supply pump 14 and the valve V1 for controlling the air supply, and the apparatus can be configured simply.

  Further, in this embodiment, the interstitial fluid is sucked and discharged by the intake pump 13 and the air supply pump 14, but instead, a thin film (diaphragm) 18 made of a magnetic material as shown in FIG. Further, the diaphragm type supply / discharge means 20 may be constituted by the electromagnet 19 which deforms the thin film 18 by a magnetic attractive force. By doing so, there is an advantage that the intake pump 13, the air supply pump 14, and the valves V <b> 1 and V <b> 2 are unnecessary, and the compact biological information measuring device 1 can be configured.

In this embodiment, information including biological information is detected by the sensor 5 including the LED 7, the fluorescent member 4, and the photodiode 8. Instead, the detection result is output as an electric signal or an optical signal. Any other sensor may be employed.
For example, biological information may be measured by arranging a pair of electrodes (not shown) in the space 4 and detecting a resistance value between the electrodes.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 7, the tips of the light projecting fiber 21 and the light receiving fiber 22 are arranged in the space 4 so as to face each other, and the absorbance of the interstitial fluid circulated between them is detected. Information may be measured.

A Skin B In-vivo 1 Biological information measuring device 2 Puncture part 3 Body part 4 Space (Liquid retention space)
5 Sensor 6 Fluorescent material (fluorescent material)
7 LED (light emitting part)
8 Photodiode (light receiving element)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11,20 Supply / discharge means 15 Biological information calculation part 16 Control part 21 Light emitting fiber (light emission part)
22 Light receiving fiber (light receiving part)

Claims (4)

A puncture part whose tip is punctured into the skin and placed in the living body,
A body part connected to the puncture part,
The puncture portion is provided at the tip, and a liquid retaining space into which interstitial fluid existing in the living body is allowed to flow, and the puncture part is disposed in the liquid retaining space, A sensor that detects information including biological information and outputs it as an electrical signal or an optical signal to the main body, and a supply / discharge unit that sucks the interstitial fluid into the liquid retaining space and discharges it from the liquid retaining space A biological information measuring device comprising: The sensor includes a light emitting unit that emits light of a predetermined wavelength, and a light receiving unit that receives light that has passed through the interstitial fluid,
The biological information measuring device according to claim 1, wherein the main body is provided with a biological information calculation unit that calculates biological information based on an electrical signal or an optical signal output from the light receiving unit.   When the sensor is irradiated with excitation light by interaction with a biological component contained in the interstitial fluid, the sensor emits fluorescence corresponding to the amount of the biological component and irradiates the fluorescent material. The biological information measuring device according to claim 1, further comprising: a light emitting unit that emits excitation light; and a light receiving element that detects the fluorescence emitted from the fluorescent material and converts the fluorescence into an electrical signal.   The control part which controls the said supply / discharge means and the said sensor so that the suction and discharge | emission by the said supply / discharge means and the detection by the said sensor may be performed in a separate time slot | zone is provided. Biological information measuring device.

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