Portable Chronic Alcohol Consumption Monitor in Human Sweat through Square-Wave Voltammetry

Abstract

Chronic alcohol consumption is a significant financial and physical burden in the United States each year. Alcohol consumption monitors focus on establishing a state of intoxication, not assessing a user’s health risks as a function of consumed alcohol. This work demonstrates a biosensor for a chronic alcohol consumption monitor through the electrochemical detection of ethyl glucuronide (EtG) in human sweat using square-wave voltammetry (SWV). A novel affinity assay was demonstrated in which monoclonal antibodies were chemically coabsorbed onto a gold electrode surface in parallel with thiolated charge transfer molecule. Concentration-dependent EtG binding was detected by measuring a reduction in the charge transfer of the sensor, manifesting as a current response during SWV measurement. A companion compact electronic reader was constructed, demonstrating comparable sensitivity to a conventional lab instrument. Both tools demonstrated a limit of detection of 0.1 µg/L and a linear dynamic range of 0.1–100 µg/L corresponding to the physiologically relevant range of EtG expression in human sweat. This device can address the need for a chronic alcohol consumption monitor toward establishing a user’s long-term consumption habits to assess the risk of developing specific diseases and conditions associated with regular alcohol consumption, through integration with existing technologies.