Photograph of the band around an ankle. Credits: Soongwon Cho and Ruihao Song
A large international team of researchers from diverse backgrounds has developed a bracelet that can be worn on the wrist or ankle to measure changes in the chemical composition of sweat over a short period of time. Their paper is published in the journal Scientific translational medicine.
Previous research has shown that during exercise, muscles begin to produce a chemical called lactate. As exercise continues, this chemical is produced in greater quantities. Previous research has also shown that measuring lactate levels can be used to monitor physical endurance, as the fitter a person is, the longer it takes for lactate levels to build up.
Professional athletes or those training for events like the Olympics have their lactate levels tested by taking blood samples from their fingers to determine their endurance. But not only is this test painful, say the researchers who developed the new method, it can also lead to infections. So they developed a different method for testing lactate levels during exercise that doesn’t require a blood test but rather a sweat test.
The research team found that over time, as exercise continued, the pH of sweat decreased and some lactate appeared. Thinking they could use sweat to measure lactate levels during exercise, they developed a way to test it.
-
Credit: Yirui Xiong
-
Credit: Soongwon Cho & Ruihao Song
-
3D illustration of the timer sensor. Credit: Yirui Xiong
The result is a bracelet that looks a lot like a wristwatch. The bracelet has several small reservoirs that collect sweat at prescribed time intervals during exercise. Chemicals inside the reservoirs react with the sweat, producing a color related to pH and lactate levels. The results of the reactions can be processed by a monitor on the bracelet or via a smartphone app.
In tests on a group of volunteers, the research team found that the amount of lactate in sweat was unrelated to levels in the blood, so it was useless. But they also found that changes in pH corresponded to the degree to which lactate levels in blood samples varied, providing another way to measure them over time.
More information:
Soongwon Cho et al, A skin-interfaced microfluidic platform supports dynamic biochemical analysis of sweat during human exercise, Scientific translational medicine (2024). DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.ado5366
© 2024 Science X Network
Quote:A wearable microfluidic wristband can measure sweat biochemistry during rest or exercise (2024, September 5) retrieved September 5, 2024 from
This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without written permission. The content is provided for informational purposes only.
