Regional and correlative sweat analysis using high-throughput microfluidic sensing patches toward decoding sweat

Sci Adv. 2019 Aug 16;5(8):eaaw9906. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aaw9906. eCollection 2019 Aug.

Abstract

Recent technological advancements in wearable sensors have made it easier to detect sweat components, but our limited understanding of sweat restricts its application. A critical bottleneck for temporal and regional sweat analysis is achieving uniform, high-throughput fabrication of sweat sensor components, including microfluidic chip and sensing electrodes. To overcome this challenge, we introduce microfluidic sensing patches mass fabricated via roll-to-roll (R2R) processes. The patch allows sweat capture within a spiral microfluidic for real-time measurement of sweat parameters including [Na+], [K+], [glucose], and sweat rate in exercise and chemically induced sweat. The patch is demonstrated for investigating regional sweat composition, predicting whole-body fluid/electrolyte loss during exercise, uncovering relationships between sweat metrics, and tracking glucose dynamics to explore sweat-to-blood correlations in healthy and diabetic individuals. By enabling a comprehensive sweat analysis, the presented device is a crucial tool for advancing sweat testing beyond the research stage for point-of-care medical and athletic applications.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Biosensing Techniques
  • Diabetes Mellitus / metabolism
  • Glucose / analysis*
  • High-Throughput Screening Assays
  • Humans
  • Ions / analysis
  • Microfluidics / methods*
  • Potassium / analysis*
  • Potassium / chemistry
  • Sodium / analysis*
  • Sodium / chemistry
  • Sweat / chemistry*

Substances

  • Ions
  • Sodium
  • Glucose
  • Potassium