A Proof-of-Concept Electrochemical Skin Sensor for Simultaneous Measurement of Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein (GFAP) and Interleukin-6 (IL-6) for Management of Traumatic Brain Injuries

• Published in: Biosensors (Basel) Vol. 12; no. 12; p. 1095
• Main Authors: Shahub, Sarah, Lin, Kai-Chun, Muthukumar, Sriram, Prasad, Shalini
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 30.11.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Antibodies; Biomarkers; Biosensors; Brain; Brain Injuries, Traumatic - diagnosis; Cerebrospinal fluid; Chemical sensors; Cytokines; Design; Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy; Electrochemistry; Electrodes; flexible sweat sensors; Fourier transforms; Glasgow Coma Scale; Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein; Head injuries; Humans; Inflammation; Inflammatory response; Infrared spectroscopy; Injury prevention; Interleukin 6; Limit of Detection; Monitoring; Multiplexing; Nervous system; passive sweat; Patients; Physiology; Plasma; Proteins; Sensors; Skin; Sweat; SWEATSENSER; Traumatic brain injury; United States > US; SWEATSENSER; flexible sweat sensors; traumatic brain injury; passive sweat; Interleukin-6
• ISSN: 2079-6374; 2079-6374
• DOI: 10.3390/bios12121095

This work demonstrates the use of a noninvasive, sweat-based dual biomarker electrochemical sensor for continuous, prognostic monitoring of a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) with the aim of enhancing patient outcomes and reducing the time to treatment after injury. A multiplexed SWEATSENSER was used for noninvasive continuous monitoring of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and Interleukin-6 (IL-6) in a human sweat analog and in human sweat. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and chronoamperometry (CA) were used to measure the sensor response. The assay chemistry was characterized using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). The SWEATSENSER was able to detect GFAP and IL-6 in sweat over a dynamic range of 3 log orders for GFAP and 2 log orders for IL-6. The limit of detection (LOD) for GFAP detection in the sweat analog was estimated to be 14 pg/mL using EIS and the LOD for IL-6 was estimated to be 10 pg/mL using EIS. An interference study was performed where the specific signal was significantly higher than the non-specific signal. Finally, the SWEATSENSER was able to distinguish between GFAP and IL-6 in simulated conditions of a TBI in human sweat. This work demonstrates the first proof-of-feasibility of a multiplexed TBI marker combined with cytokine and inflammatory marker detection in passively expressed sweat in a wearable form-factor that can be utilized toward better management of TBIs. This is the first step toward demonstrating a noninvasive enabling technology that can enable baseline tracking of an inflammatory response.