A researcher at the Autonomous University of the State of Mexico (UAEM) and the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), develops fluorescent or luminous chemosenters to analyze substances in living systems and thus detect diabetes mellitus type 2.
The sensors emit light in the presence of molecules with biological relevance associated with glycosylated hemoglobin, which can serve in future research as chemical tools for the timely detection of the disease.
In an interview with the Mexican Academy of Sciences (AMC), the investigation manager, Alejandro Dorazco González, explained that between light and chemistry there is a direct relationship, which during the analysis of its composition its molecular structure is detected.
In this sense, the academic explained that fluorescent chemosenters are able to analyze vital substances in living systems and with environmental importance, such as protein synthesis or oxygen transport.
"Supramolecular chemistry studies the association of molecules, and is relevant because a wide variety of macroscopic properties of matter depends on the three -dimensional accommodation of these molecules," said the researcher.
Dorazco González explained that chemosenctors are molecules that have color or fluorescence of any kind, such as chemioluminescence, phosphorescence and luminescence, which in the presence of analytes of biological, environmental or chemical interest, change their photophysical properties.
“Chemosensers are constituted by three components: an indicator unit (fluorophore) that has color or fluorescence, a receiver that is responsible for joining the analyte with the other elements of the chemosenser, and a spacer that connects and modulates the interaction between the receiver andThe fluorescent element, ”he said.
"In the laboratory we design the molecules, then we perform the chemical synthesis, in which organic metals or molecules can be included with photophysical properties and to which we add, through chemical bonds, a unit receiving unit of the analyte we want to study," he added.
In turn, the doctor develops fluorescent or luminescent chemosenters that emit light in the presence of molecules with biological relevance, such as the nucleotides that make up the chains of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA).
In addition to the adenosine tryposphate (ATP), basic molecule in the energy metabolism of cells, as well as the development of chemosensers for glycosylated hemoglobin, which is a chemical indicator of type 2 diabetes mellitus type 2.
"For example, if what you want to study is a molecule of biological interest such as ATP, specialists take a molecule that has luminescence and chemically stick an ATP receiver," he said.
"Therefore, in the presence of ATP, the light emission properties change, and these changes are measured with equipment such as the visible wave spectrophotometer and fluorescence emission," he added.
Diabetes mellitus is a group of metabolic diseases that occurs due to defects in secretion and insulin action, which causes different forms of the disease, among which type 2 diabetes is the one with the highest prevalence.
This disease is characterized by insulin resistance, therefore the body is unable to use it effectively.
Therefore, with the objective of quantifying glycosilated hemoglobin and thus having a better diagnosis and control of type 2 diabetes mellitus, the researcher works on the development of new chemosensers that are associated with glycosilated hemoglobin.
This method, he said, "can serve as a chemical tool for the diagnosis of the disease."