The electrical activity map of the human skin indicates strong differences between normal and diabetic individuals: A...

The human skin is not only the largest organ, but also the most important candidate for novel non-invasive methods of investigation. Here we describe a large-scale prototype for determining the real-time distribution of the electrical activity from the surface of the human skin. A collection of 200 sensors have been placed across the entire trunk surface. The output of each sensor was remotely inserted into a 20 × 10 LED matrix for a parallel capture of the signals. Continuous observations of the electrical activity pattern were made above the LED matrix by a digital camera in an obscure environment. A total of 5.2 million measurements (25,920 maps) have been recorded as light intensities from the LED matrix and converted into percentages for evaluation. A total of 36 individuals were divided equally into two groups and subjected to a short glucose tolerance test for 1 h; one group with established Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) and the other group without diabetes. The electrical activity pattern and the average signal intensity of normal individuals (37% ± 8.1) and diabetic individuals (58% ± 7.8), showed a significant difference of 21%. The average signal intensity on the ventral side (VS) and dorsal side (DS) of the torso exhibited different behaviors in diabetics and non-diabetics. On average, diabetic individuals have shown an electrical activity of higher intensity on DS (DS = 60%, VS = 55%), while the normal group has shown a higher intensity on VS (DS = 36%, VS = 39%).