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Published on: June 21, 2018
Monitoring blood lactate dynamics through sweat and interstitial fluid biofluids
Tamara Boscarino1, Omeed Djassemi2, Muhammad Inam Khan3
1Department of Engineering, Campus Bio-Medico University of Rome, Via Alvaro del Portillo 21, Rome, Italy; Aiiso Yufeng Li Family Department of Chemical and Nano Engineering, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA.
Microneedle sensors accurately estimate blood lactate from interstitial fluid (ISF), offering a minimally invasive alternative for athletic training monitoring. Sweat lactate and pH sensors provide a complementary, non-invasive tool for tracking trends.
Area of Science:
- Sports Science
- Biomedical Engineering
- Physiology
Background:
- Blood lactate monitoring is crucial in sports science and clinical medicine.
- Wearable sensors are advancing for non-invasive lactate measurement using sweat and interstitial fluid (ISF).
- The relationship between blood lactate and sweat composition needs further characterization for fitness assessment.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate a dual-wearable sensor system for simultaneous lactate and pH monitoring.
- To compare ISF lactate, sweat lactate, and pH with blood lactate during aerobic exercise.
- To assess the utility of ISF lactate as a proxy for blood lactate.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a dual-wearable sensor system: microneedle (MN) patch for ISF lactate and a touch-based biosensor for sweat lactate and pH.
- Participants performed 15 minutes of aerobic exercise.
- Measured ISF lactate continuously and sweat lactate/pH at intervals, comparing with capillary blood lactate and heart rate.
Main Results:
- Strong correlation between ISF lactate and blood lactate (ρ = 0.93).
- Moderate correlation between ISF lactate and heart rate (ρ = 0.46).
- Weak correlations observed for sweat lactate (ρ = 0.36) and pH (ρ = 0.23) with blood lactate.
Conclusions:
- Microneedle-based ISF lactate sensors show significant potential for continuous, minimally invasive blood lactate estimation during aerobic training.
- ISF lactate reliably serves as a proxy for systemic lactate levels.
- Touch-based sweat sensors offer a non-invasive, qualitative method for monitoring lactate trends in less demanding contexts.
