Novel instrumentation for determination of ethanol concentrations human perspiration by gas chromatography and a good interrelationship between ethanol concentrations in sweat and blood

Novel instrumentation for the estimation of ethanol concentration in sweat is proposed, It is composed of a sampling probe attached directly to the skin surface, a sweat rate meter for measuring the total amount of sweat secreted, a cold trap and a capillary gas chromatograph. The variation of ethanol concentration in sweat after ingestion has been measured precisely at intervals of 5-20 min. At the same time the ethanol concentration in blood was also determined by using a clinically authorized method. Ethanol concentrations both in sweat and blood are well related. To our knowledge, this is the first time that a clear relationship has been demonstrated during the whole elapsed period after ethanol ingestion. As the proposed method uses non-invasive sampling it may be applicable to testing for ethanol instead of the normal method using blood. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.