Hydrophilic skin-interfaced microfluidic devices for comprehensive sweat collection and analysis

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Analytical Chemistry
• Wearable Technology

Background:

• Blood and interstitial fluids are standard biofluids for clinical assessments, but collection is invasive.
• Sweat offers a non-invasive alternative for health monitoring, containing similar biomarkers to blood.
• Understanding sweat composition and its correlation with blood is crucial for reliable health monitoring.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the feasibility of sweat as a reliable biofluid for health monitoring.
• To address limitations of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-based microfluidic devices in sweat collection.
• To develop a hydrophilic, skin-interfaced microfluidic device for enhanced sweat biomarker analysis.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a skin-interfaced microfluidic device using a composite of PDMS-polyethylene glycol (PDMS-PEG) and PDMS.
• Modification of the device surface to enhance hydrophilicity for improved sweat transport.
• Comprehensive characterization of the device's surface properties, mechanical strength, optical clarity, and microfluidic performance.

Main Results:

• The hydrophilic modification significantly improved sweat harvesting, especially during initial sweating.
• The new device enabled more comprehensive capture of molecular information compared to traditional PDMS devices.
• Characterization confirmed enhanced surface properties, mechanical strength, optical clarity, and microfluidic performance.

Conclusions:

• The developed hydrophilic microfluidic device enhances sweat collection for non-invasive health monitoring.
• This technology improves the potential for reliable and rigorous analysis of sweat biomarkers.
• The findings pave the way for future clinical and occupational health applications using wearable sweat analysis platforms.