… a simple test for CFS?
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| Credit: American Chemical Society. |
Saw this interesting article today.
Since lactic acid and lactate is the prime substances that makes muscle feel
exhausted and sour, may be this technique could become and easy way to test for
CSF.
First human tests of new biosensor
that warns when athletes are about to 'hit the wall'
Wednesday, 24 July 2013
A new biosensor, applied to the human
skin like a temporary tattoo, can alert marathoners, competitive bikers and
other "extreme" athletes
that they're about to "bonk,"
or "hit the wall,"
scientists are reporting. The study, in ACS' journal Analytical Chemistry,
describes the first human tests of the sensor, which also could help soldiers
and others who engage in intense exercise — and their trainers — monitor
stamina and fitness.
Joseph Wang and colleagues explain that
the sensor monitors lactate, a form of lactic acid released in sweat. Lactate
forms when the muscles need more energy than the body can supply from the "aerobic" respiration that
suffices during mild exercise. The body shifts to "anaerobic" metabolism, producing lactic acid and
lactate. That helps for a while, but lactate builds up in the body, causing
extreme fatigue and the infamous "bonking
out," where an athlete just cannot continue. Current methods of
measuring lactate are cumbersome, require blood samples or do not give instant
results. Wang's team sought to develop a better approach.
They describe the first human tests of
a lactate sensor applied to the skin like a temporary tattoo that stays on and
flexes with body movements. Tests on 10 human volunteers showed that the sensor
accurately measured lactate levels in sweat during exercise.
"Such
skin-worn metabolite biosensors could lead to useful insights into physical
performance and overall physiological status, hence offering considerable
promise for diverse sport, military, and biomedical applications," say the scientists.
Future research will further correlate
sweat lactate levels with fitness, performance and blood lactate levels, Wang
added.
Reference:
Electrochemical Tattoo Biosensors
for Real-Time Noninvasive Lactate Monitoring in Human Perspiration
Wenzhao Jia, Amay J. Bandodkar, Gabriela
Valdés-Ramírez, Joshua R. Windmiller, Zhanjun Yang, Julian
Ramírez, Garrett Chan, and Joseph Wang
Anal. Chem., 2013, 85 (14),
pp 6553–6560, DOI: 10.1021/ac401573r
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