Class: BE-210
Group: W6
Members: Paul Kim, Catherine LaRocco, Dale Yoo, Hua Zhu
Date: Spring 1998
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Abstract:
In this experiment, three sweat collecting methods and devices were designed and tested. Among the three methods and devices, a simple sweat-catching method using test tubes and a slightly more complicated method using a flexible pouch constructed with Opsite-type dressing and parafilm were tested and determined to be inaccurate or inefficient because of various factors. The third device was constructed with a 100 mL square petri dish and syringe. It was tested under experimental conditions and proved to be the most efficient for easy sweat collection. It was used to collect all of the sweat samples in this experiment because of its ability to prevent contamination of the sweat sample, thus, ensuring the accuracy of the measurements and data.

In the second part of the experiment, sweat samples were collected in dry and steam sauna conditions with mean temperatures of 185 degF and 156 degF, respectively. The relative humidity was negligible in the dry sauna and 100 % in the steam sauna. The ion concentration of Na+, K+ and Ca2+ in the sweat samples were determined using an atomic absorption spectrophotometer. According to previous research conducted regarding sweat content, the first data points of the potassium and calcium concentration do not truly reflect the concentration of ions in the sweat. This was supported by our data. Additionally, we found no obvious effect of relative humidity on ion concentration in sweat except for Ca2+ ion concentration, where the dry trials yielded much higher calcium concentrations than in the steam sauna. Since there was no distinction between the physiological conditions overall, we calculated the mean ion concentrations of all trials. The mean concentration of Na+, K+ and Ca2+ in sweat was found to be 1884 ppm, 236.0 ppm, and 8.441 ppm, respectively. The experimental sodium ion concentration was lower than the normal blood ion concentration as well as literature values for drug-induced sweat production but was higher than the literature value for thermally induced sweat. On the other hand, the experimental potassium ion concentration was higher than the normal blood ion concentration and the drug-induced sweat but lower than the thermally induced sweat. Calcium ion could not be compared to literature values because of the lack of data for this ion.