Fabrication of Nitric Oxide-Releasing Porous Polyurethane Membranes-Coated Needle-type Implantable Glucose Biosensors

The active release of pharmaceutical agents and the use of porous sensor membranes represent the two most promising strategies for addressing the poor tissue biocompatibility of implantable glucose biosensors. Herein, we describe the combination of these approaches to create nitric oxide (NO)-releasing porous fiber mat-modified sensor membranes. An electrospinning method was used to directly modify needle-type glucose biosensors with the NO donor-loaded fibers. The resulting NO-releasing fiber mat (540 +/- 139 nm fiber diameter, 94.1 +/- 3.7% porosity) released similar to 100 nmol of NO per mg of polyurethane over 6 h while maintaining a porous structure without leaching of the NO donor, even in serum. The porous fiber membrane did not influence the analytical performance of the biosensor when <= 50 mu m thick.