Process for analyzing tear fluid
AssigneeNovartis AG
InventorsAchim Müller, Roland Schmieder, Katharina Schmid
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Abstract
The present invention concerns a process for analyzing an analyte in a hydrogel contact lens following its wear on the eye, comprising the steps of (a) physically or chemically inducing a volume reduction of the hydrogel contact lens and thereby squeezing the analyte out of the polymer material making up the contact lens and (b) feeding the analyte obtained according to step (a) into an analyzer. The process of the invention provides a new concept for noninvasively measuring various analytes occurring in the tear fluid that is comfortable to the user.
Claims12
A process for analyzing at least one analyte contained in tear fluid which is present in a hydrogel contact lens which has been worn on the eye, wherein the hydrogel is a polymer, comprising the steps of:
- (a) chemically inducing a reduction in the volume of the hydrogel lens by crosslinking the polymer, thereby squeezing tear fluid that contains the at least one analyte from the polymer;
- and
- (b) contacting the tear fluid that contains the at least one analyte according to step (a) with an analytical instrument to detect the analyte.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.