Continuous real-time fentanyl sensor platform based on smart hydrogels for application in anesthesia

PROJECT SUMMARY ABSTRACT The opioid fentanyl is administered in millions of procedural sedations every yearIt is very potenthas large interpatient pharmacokinetic variabilityand routinely causes significant respiratory depression if bolused or not titrated judiciouslyDosing and timingcritical for safety and efficacyare presently only possible based on educated guesses and vital signsSedation associated morbidity are primarily drug induced respiratory depression and airway obstructionespecially when the drugs are administered by clinicians with limited airway rescue skillsEndoscopistsare primarily sedating patients instead of anesthesiologists or CRNAsOverpatients per year have significant drug induced respiratory events during sedation for colonoscopies andpatients dieNo method for point of care concentration monitoring of these drugs is knownThe long term goal of the proposed work is to providefor the first timea sensor for real time monitoring of opioid and other medicationsallowing the personalized administration of these drugsThis grant will create an intravenous catheter tip sensor for fentanyl and demonstrate that the proposed hydrogel aptamer based sensor performs sufficiently wellaccuracy driftresponse timelongevityto allow guidance of fentanyl administrationSuch a monitor will help clinicians to better target the drug concentrations needed by the individual patientthereby lowering the risk of adverse events due to overor under administrationOur specific aims are tailored to show proof of principleIn aimaptamer enhanced smart hydrogels with sufficient binding affinities to fentanyl will be createdIn aimthe fentanyl sensitive smart hydrogels will be integrated onto an optimized polyimide sensor platform and miniaturized for use in an intravenous catheterSensor performance will be evaluated in vitro using phosphate buffered salinePBSand blood plasmaWe will demonstrate the feasibility of a real time monitor for fentanyl concentrations and develop a versatile polymer sensor platformThe successful demonstration would indicate a straight forward path to creating sensors for other intravenous medications by integrating other aptamers onto the platformThis platform would enable further research into individualized pharmacokinetic dynamic models and generate revenue by supplying research scientists and clinicians alike with these easy to handle sensors PROJECT NARRATIVE Currentlyintravenous sedationanalgesiaand anesthesia are administered without any method for knowing the blood concentrations of powerful medications such as fentanylInsteadthese medications are administered based on population statisticsin spite of known large interpatient pharmacokinetic variabilitiesThe proposed research will demonstrate the feasibility of a novel real time sensing platform for blood concentrations of medication with fentanyl as first target analyteSensing devices based on this platform technology will enable personalized administration of medication