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Researchers at the University of California San Diego have developed flexible sensors that can be worn on the skin to sensitively track vitamin C levels in sweat.
The new devices consist of an adhesive patch that a user can attach to their skin. By stimulating sweating in the underlying skin, the sensors can generate enough sweat to analyze for vitamin C levels.
The flexible structure contains an enzyme, ascorbate oxidase, that converts vitamin C to dehydroascorbic acid, consuming oxygen in the process. This generates an electrical current that flexible electrodes within the devices can sense, providing a data readout that is proportional to the level of vitamin C present in the sweat.
So far, the researchers have tested the sensors in human volunteers and found that they could sensitively track levels of vitamin C over a couple of hours. The sensors successfully detected changes in vitamin C levels when the volunteers drank fruit juice or took a vitamin C supplement.
If shown to be useful in the context of COVID-19, the new sensors could help clinicians to monitor and optimize vitamin C levels depending on their patients’ needs. In terms of more routine use, the sensors have significant potential in helping people to make dietary and nutritional changes.
Source: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acssensors.0c00604
The new devices consist of an adhesive patch that a user can attach to their skin. By stimulating sweating in the underlying skin, the sensors can generate enough sweat to analyze for vitamin C levels.
The flexible structure contains an enzyme, ascorbate oxidase, that converts vitamin C to dehydroascorbic acid, consuming oxygen in the process. This generates an electrical current that flexible electrodes within the devices can sense, providing a data readout that is proportional to the level of vitamin C present in the sweat.
So far, the researchers have tested the sensors in human volunteers and found that they could sensitively track levels of vitamin C over a couple of hours. The sensors successfully detected changes in vitamin C levels when the volunteers drank fruit juice or took a vitamin C supplement.
If shown to be useful in the context of COVID-19, the new sensors could help clinicians to monitor and optimize vitamin C levels depending on their patients’ needs. In terms of more routine use, the sensors have significant potential in helping people to make dietary and nutritional changes.
Source: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acssensors.0c00604
Dr. S●●●●●a S●●●●a and 6 others like this2 shares
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Dr. S●●●●●m S●●●●y P●●●●●l General Medicine
Useful research in a partial sense. The full potential is yet to be met.
May 23, 2020Like
