Injectable Microchip System Tracks Animal Health to Help Monitor Physiological Indicators and Activity Patterns

Despite the owner's best efforts, pets and working animals can become lost. There is a high chance that they can return if they wear a collar or an identification tag, but these devices can also come off.

To protect the safety of their pets, many owners turn to microchips, the tiny transponders implanted under the animal's skin. In a recent study, a team of scientists tried to use the same technology to track the animals' locations and health statuses.

Microchip Technology for Animals

All around the world, many pets and working animals are microchipped for identification and tracking. Microchips are implanted just under the animal's skin, typically right between the shoulder blades. A handheld scanner reads the radio frequency of the microchip and displays information such as the animal's identification number.

If a stray animal is brought to a veterinary clinic, the staff can use their reader to check for a chip. The registration database is then checked for the animal's identification number, and its owner's contact information is retrieved.

Unfortunately, the available implantables for animals are cumbersome. This is because the animal needs to be put under anesthesia and should undergo a surgical procedure to implant the large device.

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Injectable Animal Health Tracker

North Carolina State University researchers used off-the-shelf materials to produce the most advanced multimodal and minimally invasive injectable sensor system for animals. The device was designed to monitor animals' physiological indicators and activity patterns wirelessly. Alper Bozkurt and his team considered using a much simpler and cheaper process, such as the microchip implant done at every veterinary clinic.

In the study "A Subcutaneously Injectable Implant for Multimodal Physiological Monitoring in Animals," the research team described how the implant offered real-time measurement of an animal's movement, temperature, breathing rate, and heart rate. In future work, it can also track oxygen saturation and blood pressure.

The researchers created the device using a commercially available system-on-a-chip. The injectable chip system features front-end circuits, multiple physiological sensors, a rechargeable battery, Bluetooth low-energy capability, and a microcontroller with a wireless radio system for sending measurements. Bozkurt compares the injectable implant to a smartwatch humans wear to track their vital statistics and daily activities.

The implant's sensors leverage several different modalities. An electrocardiography sensor measures the animal's heart rate, while thermometry measures temperature. Meanwhile, an inertial measurement unit tracks the animal's movement and breathing rate.

The researchers in biomedical epoxy and a biocompatible synthetic polymer for insulation encapsulated the chip system. Then, the electrically conductive epoxy was added at the tip, where it would act as an electrode. The entire structure fits into 6-gauge surgical needles used to inject the chip systems into both anesthetized rats and freely moving rats.

The microchip can send information from the sensors to a remote receiver as far as 3 meters. Regarding power sources, the battery can last two to three months before recharging. The researchers also designed the device to be easily extracted and reused using biomedical epoxy and a synthetic polymer layer.

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Check out more news and information on Microchip in Science Times.