Mexican scientists create technology to improve glucose control and detect kidney damage

Mexican scientists developed a technology that helps improve glucose control and detect kidney damage earlyin a country where diabetes is an epidemic that causes more than 115,000 deaths annually, the second cause of death, reported this Sunday, February 25, 2024, the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN).

The technology, developed by Mexican scientists from the IPN and the Research Center for Advanced Studies (Cinvestav), is based on photoacoustic spectroscopy, which determines glycosylated hemoglobin in people with diabetes (the marker for diabetes control and substances associated with damage). renal), the institution detailed in a statement.
This methodhe added, uses 60 microliters of blood, approximately a third of a drop, to measure different variables and, unlike the conventional method, it does not use toxic substances such as potassium cyanide to treat the sample.

About 422 million people in the world and 62 million in America suffer from type 2 diabetes mellitus, a disease that progressively damages organs such as the heart, blood vessels, eyes, kidneys and nerves, according to the Pan American Health Organization.

In Mexico, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi), this disease affects more than 12.8 million and is the second cause of death.

Guadalupe Cleva Villanueva López, ESM researcher and head of the project supported by the Secretariat of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation (Sectei) of Mexico City, highlighted that this innovation detects glycosylated hemoglobin in blood and other substances in plasma and urine for diabetes control and diagnosis of kidney damage.

“By detecting glycated hemoglobin, creatinine, urea and proteins, the metabolic control of diabetes will be improved and kidney failure will be avoided by finding the damage in a timely manner”explained the scientist.

Alfredo Cruz Orea, a physics specialist at Cinvestav, pointed out that, although photoacoustic spectroscopy was developed in the late 1970s, it is not a commercial technique.

“With this prototype and a software that we developed, novel results were obtained. In a wide range of the blood absorption spectrum, different elements indicative of diabetes and kidney damage can be seen,” he said.

The National Institute of Medical Sciences and Nutrition Salvador Zubirán (INCMNSZ) will optimize and validate the usefulness of the technology in 400 patients with diabetes and 400 healthy volunteers.

At the same time, the new diagnostic method will have to be analyzed by the Federal Commission for the Protection Against Sanitary Risks (Cofepris), the national health authority, to obtain its health registration in case it meets the quality, safety and health requirements. effectiveness.

Additionally, to achieve international acceptance through the International Diabetes Federation, a patent will be sought for the new method for detecting glycated hemoglobin.

Meanwhile, the software will be registered with the American Association of Nephrology (ASN) after obtaining copyright registration, now in process, and efforts will be made to improve the technology to make it portable.