In vitro monitoring of goat-blood glycemia with a microwave biosensor

Abstract

We used an electromagnetic microwave cavity sensor for real time measurement of the glycemia in goat-blood for three animals. We could determine the concentration of d-glucose in blood in the range of 90–550 mg/dl at the resonance frequency near 4.76 GHz with a bandwidth of 300 MHz. The change in microwave reflection coefficient S11 (due to the variation of d-glucose concentration in blood) was about 16.33 dB, 23.92 dB, 7.66 dB and resonance frequency shift was about 21.78 MHz, 36.29 MHz, 20.77 MHz, respectively, for the three different samples. The in vitro results show the measured signal-to-noise ratio of about 32 dB, and the minimum detectable signal level of about 0.025 dB/(mg/dl). The results clearly show the sensitivity and usefulness of this microwave sensor for these types of biological investigations. This proposed system provides a unique approach for real contactless glucose monitoring and, it may serve as a bloodless glucometer for the calibration of different glucose levels.