Tag: electrolytes

Categories : NeurologyTags :

The Neural Circuits that Manage the Balancing Act of Hydration

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Credit: Pixabay CC0

The human brain regulates water and salt appetite to maintain proper hydration. A new study published in Cell Reports reveals how the brain’s centre for digestive signals has two distinct neuronal populations that regulate either salt or water intake.

Previous studies suggested that water or salt ingestion quickly suppresses thirst and salt appetite before the digestive system absorbs the ingested substances, indicating the presence of sensing and feedback mechanisms in digestive organs that help real-time thirst and salt appetite modulation in response to drinking and feeding. Unfortunately, despite extensive research on this subject, the details of these underlying mechanisms remained elusive.

To shed light on this matter, a research team from Japan has recently conducted an in-depth study on the parabrachial nucleus (PBN), the brain’s relay centre for ingestion signals coming from digestive organs.

The researchers conducted a series of in vivo experiments using genetically engineered mice.

They introduced optogenetic (and chemogenetic) modifications and in vivo calcium imaging techniques into these mice, enabling them to visualise and control the activation or inhibition of specific neurons in the lateral PBN (LPBN) using light (and chemicals). During the experiments, the researchers offered the mice, either in regular or water- or salt-depleted conditions, water and/or salt water, and monitored neural activities along with the corresponding drinking behaviours.

In this way, the team identified two distinct subpopulations of cholecystokinin mRNA-positive neurons in the LPBN, which underwent activation during water and salt intake.

The neuronal population that responds to water intake projects from the LPBN to the median preoptic nucleus (MnPO), whereas the one that responds to salt intake projects to the ventral bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (vBNST). Interestingly, if the researchers artificially activated these neuronal populations through optogenetic (genetic control using light) experiments, the mice drank substantially less water and ingested less salt, even if they were previously water- or salt-deprived.

Similarly, when the researchers chemically inhibited these neurons, the mice consumed more water and salt than usual.

Therefore, these neuronal populations in the LPBN are involved in feedback mechanisms that reduce thirst and salt appetite upon water or salt ingestion, possibly helping prevent excessive water or salt intake.

These results, alongside their previous neurological studies, also reveal that MnPO and vBNST are the control centres for thirst and salt appetite, integrating promotion and suppression signals from several other brain regions.

“Understanding brain mechanisms controlling water and salt intake behaviours is not only a significant discovery in the fields of neuroscience and physiology, but also contributes valuable insights to understand the mechanisms underlying diseases induced by excessive water and salt intake, such as water intoxication, polydipsia, and salt-sensitive hypertension,” remarks first author, Assistant Professor Takashi Matsuda from Tokyo Institute of Technology.

Source: Tokyo Institute of Technology

Categories : ExerciseTags : Leave a comment

A Sensor Printed onto Clothing that Monitors Sweat Electrolytes

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Photo by Ketut Subiyanto on Pexels

Researchers from Japan have developed a novel wearable chemical sensor capable of measuring the concentration of chloride ions in sweat. The technology, described in the journal ACS Sensors, uses a ‘heat-transfer printing’ technique, the proposed sensor can be applied to the outer surface of common textiles to prevent skin irritation and allergies, and could also be useful in the early detection of heat stroke and dehydration.

Advances in miniaturisation have led to science-fiction like technologies such as wearable sensors which are usually placed directly on the skin. They can monitor important bodily parameters, including heart rate, blood pressure, and muscle activity and are often incorporated into devices such as smart watches.

Some wearable sensors can also detect chemicals in bodily fluids. For instance, sweat biosensors can measure the concentration of ions in sweat, providing information on their levels in blood. However, designing such chemical sensors is more complex than physical sensors. Direct contact between a wearable chemical sensor and skin can cause irritation and allergies. In contrast, if the sensor is fabricated directly on a wearable textile, its accuracy decreases due to surface irregularities.

In a recent study, a research team, led by Associate Professor Isao Shitanda of the Tokyo University of Science (TUS) in Japan, has developed an innovative sweat biosensor that addresses the aforementioned problems. Their technique involves ‘heat-transfer printing’ to fix a thin, flexible chloride ion sensor onto a textile substrate.

“The proposed sensor can be transferred to fibre substrates, and thus can be incorporated into textiles such as T-shirts, wristbands, and insoles,” explains Dr Shitanda. “Further, health indicators such as chloride ion concentration in sweat can be measured by simply wearing them.”

The heat-transfer printing approach offers several advantages. For one thing, the sensor is transferred outside of the piece of clothing, which prevents skin irritation. In addition, the wicking effect of the textile helps spread the sweat evenly between the electrodes of the sensor, creating a stable electrical contact. Moreover, printing the sensor on a flat surface and then transferring it prevents the formation of blurred edges that commonly occur when printing directly onto a textile.

The researchers carefully selected non-allergenic materials and electrochemical mechanisms of the sensor. After developing the sensor, they conducted various experiments using artificial sweat to verify its accuracy in measuring chloride ion concentration. The change in the electromotive force of the sensor was −59.5 mTV/log CCl−. Additionally, it displayed a Nernst response and a linear relationship with the concentration range of chloride ions in human sweat. Moreover, no other ions or substances typically present in sweat were found to interfere with the measurements.

Lastly, the team tested the sensor on a volunteer who exercised on a static bicycle for 30 minutes, by measuring their perspiration rate, chloride ion levels in blood, and saliva osmolality every five minutes to compare with the data previously gathered by the sensor. The proposed wearable sensor could reliably measure the concentration of chloride ions in sweat.

The sensor can also transmit data wirelessly, making real-time health monitoring easier. “Since chloride is the most abundant electrolyte in human sweat, measuring its concentration provides an excellent indicator of the body’s electrolyte balance and a useful tool for the diagnosis and prevention of heat stroke,” remarks Dr Shitanda.

This research thus demonstrates the potential of using wearable ion sensors for the real-time monitoring of sweat biomarkers, facilitating personalised healthcare development and athlete training management.

Source: Tokyo University of Science