Year: 2016
Type: article
Abstract: Human eccrine sweat is a naturally occurring salty biofluid produced in the thermoregulation of the human body.Though most predominantly associated with cooling of the body eccrine sweat has also been used in the diagnosis of diseases such as cystic fibrosis.In cystic fibrosis diagnosis pilocarpine iontophoresis is used at hospitals and clinics nationwide as the goldstandard test to induce sweating on the forearm of infants.Detection of elevated levels of chloride ions in the sweat leads to a positive read for cystic fibrosis.Along with chloride and sodium ions, sweat has been found to contain numerous other electrolytes, small and large molecules, peptides and proteins which are shown to correlate to other body fluids such as blood, blood derivatives, saliva and tears in levels ranging from mM to pM concentrations.Examination of sweat analytes leads to the potential for noninvasive diagnostic techniques to be developed in the form of on-skin patches which may allow for biomonitoring for conditions other than cystic fibrosis.After building a database of numerous analytes, their concentrations in sweat and means of partitioning pathways into the sweat glands it was important to begin in vivo assessment of human sweat.The cystic fibrosis sweat test using two iontophoretic devices from Wescor Inc. was performed on 18 healthy subjects at the University of Cincinnati upon approval from the Institutional Review Board (IRB) to examine sweat rates, electrolyte concentrations and effects of multiple doses on the same site.Results indicated a statistically significant difference in sweat rates of men versus women, as well as notable differences in electrolyte concentrations between left arms and right arms of subjects.Subjects who were included in repeat tests on identical sites showed significant decreases in sweat rates.Novel sweat sensor patches are currently being tested as part of exploratory studies examining alternative methods of sweat stimulation and sensing.Based on the results gained from testing with the commercially available cystic fibrosis testing devices new sweat sensor 1 Sections 1.1 and 1.2 are quotations from the published review paper "The microfluidics of the eccrine sweat gland, including biomarker partitioning, transport, and biosensing implications" by Sonner, Wilder et al (2015).A more comprehensive overview of the computational modeling and analyte partitioning can be found in the full manuscript which can be accessed online at
Author: E. Wilder
Institution: University of Cincinnati
Language: English
Subfield: Physiology (medical)
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2544052873