CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a device to evaluate tears in order to address not only different ocular surface diseases, but systemic pathologies. Also, the device allows the examination of pathologies of the eye, their follow-up and treatment of the disease, with results clear, objective and reproducible, by obtaining a tear sample. The device have the capability of quantify values of resonance frequency (f0) and dissipation index (D) of the system composed by the tear fluid on the quartz crystal, with high level of accuracy and reproducibility. Also, with the possibility of functionalization, to measure different biomarkers in tears. In this sense, the so called neural growth factor (NGF) is proposed, which is relevant in wound healing process and neurotropism. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, in order to obtain the frequency response (f0 and D) of the quartz crystal, the operation of the system is controlled by means of a microcontroller, which controls the frequency sweep, stores & processes the acquired data (magnitude and phase), shows it in a display, and also send it to the cloud for the cell phone, tablet, and laptop connection. It differs in functionality of the state of the art, in that it allows clear, objective and reproducible results from a simple and short-term sample, through a direct measurement, in real time and with high specificity and thus, share the result immediately with the patient (current tear quality assessment techniques, although they are low cost, yield subjective results depending on the professional´s experience). This would benefit both the doctor, who would have objective data to analyze the evolution of the patient and compare the effectiveness of different treatments, as well as the patient, since the objectivity of the data facilitates a better understanding of the pathology and the medical prescriptions.