Gout is diagnosed by sweat

Scientists have presented a device for detecting gout

Nikita Shevtsov, Naked Science

Today, blood tests are most often used to detect gout and other metabolic diseases. But during the day, the concentrations of substances in the blood can vary depending on the time of day and the foods eaten. Therefore, it is very difficult to diagnose and control the course of metabolic disorders.

A new development by the staff of the California Institute of Technology allows you to quickly and in real time analyze the amount of various substances contained in the human body. The new device does this using sweat. It is based on microfluidics, a technology based on passing a small amount of liquid through narrow channels in which its components can be analyzed.

Drawings from the press release of Wearable Sweat Sensor Detects Gout-Causing Compounds - VM.

Microfluidic technology is ideal for use in wearable sensors, as it minimizes the effect of sweat evaporation and skin contamination on the accuracy of perception. So far, the described devices have been manufactured using a complex and expensive lithography process. Instead, American scientists decided to make their biosensors from graphene. Both sensors and microfluidic channels were created by the authors using carbon dioxide laser engraving – a cheap and affordable device. 

First, the researchers tested how well their device measures respiratory rate, heart rate, and uric acid and tyrosine concentrations. The tyrosine molecule is one of the indicators of metabolic disorders, liver diseases, eating disorders and neuropsychiatric disorders. High levels of uric acid are associated with gout, a disease that causes damage to joints, kidneys and other organs.

When testing the new sensor on humans, the researchers proved its fundamental operability. The device showed high levels of uric acid in the sweat of patients with gout, as well as in the sweat of people who recently ate food rich in purines – substances from which uric acid is produced in the body.

Article Yang et al. A laser-engraved wearable sensor for sensitive detection of uric acid and tyrosine in sweat is published in the journal Nature Biotechnology.

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