Multi-wavelength pulse plethysmography for real-time drug delivery monitoring

A novel multi-wavelength photoplethysmograph (PPG), previously utilized to quantify optically absorptive circulating gold nanoparticles, has demonstrated the potential to enhance therapeutic treatment predictability as pharmacokinetic metrics are provided throughout the intravenous delivery phase of quinine in real-time. This report demonstrates how the PPG could be used to assess the real-time bioavailability of other types of intravenously delivered optically-absorbing nanoparticles and drugs. The drug currently under investigation is anti-malarial quinine (absorption peak ~350 nm). We describe how the algorithm has been adapted to quantify the concentration of quinine in the pulsatile, circulating blood based on its extinction at three wavelengths (340, 660 and 940 nm). We show an example of the system collecting data representing the baseline, injection, and the clearance phases. An examination of the raw signal suggests that the system is well suited to sense the concentration of quinine in the therapeutic range (10mg/kg).