Personal monitoring of cutaneous vitamin D3 production through a printable UV molecular dosimeter

Abstract

Cutaneous production of vitamin D by exposure of the skin to solar radiation can provide more than 90% of the daily dose needed by the human body, thanks to the range of UV radiation covered by its spectrum and may be the best option to reduce oral supplementation. The process can be monitored by personal UV dosimetry since this is the range of solar radiation related to its production. Aiming to monitor UVB dose looking for correlation with skin production of vitamin D3, a printed strip with the molecular dosimetry device was used to produce a photonic signal as input for calculations in software developed here to run on a smartphone. For this, the molecular dosimeter Eu(btfa)3·bipy was prepared to be printed as a functional ink with a MEMS-based Drop-on-Demand Dimatix DMP2831 Materials Printer to produce the functional paper strips. To use our personal UV molecular dosimeter photonic signal as input data, a correlation curve must be established to convert the UV dose into the amount of vitamin D3 produced. There is a promising solution for personal monitoring of cutaneous vitamin D production by printable UV dosimeter targets, aiming to contribute to a better immune response of individuals. In addition, the creation of a cloud data lake capable of mapping population data on vitamin D deficiency can help define public health policies.