Title: 

Biocompatible hydrogels for oral fluid sampling and biomarker detection in periodontal disease diagnosis : A proof-of-concept 

Introduction

Periodontal disease affect  more than 3.5  million people globally1. Sampling of fluids for rapid diagnostics remain challenging. Current sampling techniques is limited in both quality and volume of biomarkers2. A range of advanced biocompatible hydrogels have been designed and characterised to demonstrate their potential in capturing macromolecules, standardising biofluid sampling technique, eliminate variability in biofluid volumes and concentrations of biomarkers. The aim of this work is to assess the uptake of a macromolecule (FITC-dextran) by Gantrez S-97 and Polyvinyl alcohol (Mw 31,000 - 50,000) based hydrogel devices and evaluate their physicochemical characteristics. This serves as preliminary data for further work in using these hydrogels for gingival crevicular fluid sampling and analysis in PD diagnostics.