Wearable glove-embedded sensors for therapeutic drug monitoring in sweat for personalized medicine

Abstract

Wearable sensing technology may fulfill the requirements of precision medicine, but the use of on-body devices for rapid, selective screening of therapeutic drugs is relatively new. In this paper, we report on wearable glove-embedded sensors for non-invasive and selective determination of therapeutic drugs and a biomarker in sweat samples. Electrochemical sensing was made with an array of sensors printed on four fingers of a plastic glove. Uric acid was detected using the index finger functionalized with carbon black with a limit of detection of 1.37 × 10–6 mol L–1. Paracetamol and paroxetine were detected using the middle and ring fingers coated with Printex Carbon with limits of detection of 2.47 × 10–7 and 4.93 × 10–7 mol L–1, respectively. Ethinylestradiol (EE2) detection was performed with a pre-treated screen-printed carbon electrode on the little finger with limit of detection of 9.35 × 10–7 mol L–1. The high sensitivity and selectivity achieved with the glove-embedded sensors were possible due to a judicious choice of sensing layers and optimized working conditions for differential pulse voltammetry. Monitoring of the analytes was carried out in sweat samples with suitable recovery between 90 and 110%. The glove-embedded sensors were robust against multiple flexion cycles, stable and reproducible, with no response to interference from other molecules in sweat. They may be extended to detect other targets for on-site analysis, in addition to applications in environmental and water samples.