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Wearable soft electrochemical microfluidic device integrated with iontophoresis for sweat biosensing

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Abstract

A soft and flexible wearable sweat epidermal microfluidic device capable of simultaneously stimulating, collecting, and electrochemically analyzing sweat is demonstrated. The device represents the first system integrating an iontophoretic pilocarpine delivery system around the inlet channels of epidermal polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microfluidic device for sweat collection and analysis. The freshly generated sweat is naturally pumped into the fluidic inlet without the need of exercising. Soft skin-mounted systems, incorporating non-invasive, on-demand sweat sampling/analysis interfaces for tracking target biomarkers, are in urgent need. Existing skin conformal microfluidic-based sensors for continuous monitoring of target sweat biomarkers rely on assays during intense physical exercising. This work demonstrates the first example of combining sweat stimulation, through transdermal pilocarpine delivery, with sample collection through a microfluidic channel for real-time electrochemical monitoring of sweat glucose, in a fully integrated soft and flexible multiplexed device which eliminates the need of exercising. The on-body operational performance and layout of the device were optimized considering the fluid dynamics and evaluated for detecting sweat glucose in several volunteers. Furthermore, the microfluidic monitoring device was integrated with a real-time wireless data transmission system using a flexible electronic board PCB conformal with the body. The new microfluidic platform paves the way to real-time non-invasive monitoring of biomarkers in stimulated sweat samples for diverse healthcare and wellness applications.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency Joint Science and Technology Office for Chemical and Biological Defense (grant number: HDTRA 1–16-1–0013) and the UCSD Center of Wearable Sensors (CWS). J. R. S. received fellowship from CNPq (grant number: 216981/2014–0), G. B. received fellowship from the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK 2219). N. F. A. received fellowship from Capes/PDSE—Finance Code 001 (Program 194 – Process—88881.186873/2018–01). E.D.l.P. received support from a UC MEXUS–CONACYT collaborative fellowship (2017–2022).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of NanoEngineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA

    Gulcin Bolat, Ernesto De la Paz, Nathalia F. Azeredo, Michael Kartolo, Jayoung Kim, Andre Neirdert de Loyola e Silva, Ricardo Rueda, Christopher Brown, Joseph Wang & Juliane R. Sempionatto

  2. Department of Fundamental Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil

    Nathalia F. Azeredo & Lúcio Angnes

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  1. Gulcin Bolat
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  2. Ernesto De la Paz
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  3. Nathalia F. Azeredo
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  4. Michael Kartolo
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  5. Jayoung Kim
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  6. Andre Neirdert de Loyola e Silva
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  9. Lúcio Angnes
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  10. Joseph Wang
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  11. Juliane R. Sempionatto
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Correspondence to Joseph Wang or Juliane R. Sempionatto.

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Human studies were conducted in strict compliance following a protocol approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) at the University of California, San Diego. All participants provided written informed consent prior to each study.

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Published in the topical collection featuring Promising Early-Career (Bio)Analytical Researchers with guest editors Antje J. Baeumner, María C. Moreno-Bondi, Sabine Szunerits, and Qiuquan Wang.

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Bolat, G., De la Paz, E., Azeredo, N.F. et al. Wearable soft electrochemical microfluidic device integrated with iontophoresis for sweat biosensing. Anal Bioanal Chem 414, 5411–5421 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-021-03865-9

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