A novel electrochemical sensor for non-invasive monitoring of lithium levels in mood disorders

Lithium is the main drug for the treatment of mood disorders. Due to its narrow therapeutic window, Therapeutic Drug Monitoring (TDM) is a norm during therapy in order to avoid adverse effects. Consequently, patients are obliged to frequent check-ups in hospitals to determine their serum concentration and optimize accordingly the drug dose. Wearable sensors have attracted a growing interest in the research community in recent years owing to their promising impact in personalized healthcare. In particular, sweat diagnosis has seen an enormous expansion and is currently entering the market thanks to the large availability and simple collection of this fluid. In this paper a novel approach for non-invasive decentralized monitoring of lithium drug concentration through sweat analysis is proposed for the first time. An all-solid-state Ion-Selective Electrode (ISE) with a nanostructured Solid-Contact (SC) is used to detect lithium ions in sweat. The sensor offers near-Nernstian behaviour (57:6 +/- 2:1 mV/decade) in the concentration range of interest. In addition, it shows fast response (15-30 s), good reversibility and small potential drift over time. A wide pH stability window (pH 4-12) is also proved.