METHOD FOR NON-INVASIVELY DETERMINING THE RELATIVE LEVELS OFTWO BIOLOGICAL SUBSTANCES

摘要

The method for non-invasively determining the relative levels of two substances present in a biological system includes the steps of extracting b y reverse iontophoresis charged and uncharged substances from said biological system, and collecting said substances, analysing the collected amount of a first extracted substance and a second extracted substance and determining t he extraction ratio of the first substance to the second substance to determine their relative levels in the biological system. When the first and second substances are both analytes susceptible to changes in their concentration i n the biological system, this method provides information about the relative concentrations of the two substances in the biological system. When the firs t substance is an analyte susceptible to changes in its concentration in the biological system and the second substance has a substantially constant concentration in the biological system, the second subtance acts as an internal standard and the extraction ratio becomes a direct measurement of t he physiological level of the first substance in the biological system. A iontophoretic sampling device for monitoring the relative levels of two substances present in a biological system is also disclosed.