Bm. Jensen et al., GLUCOSE CONTENT IN HUMAN SKIN - RELATIONSHIP WITH BLOOD-GLUCOSE LEVELS, Scandinavian journal of clinical & laboratory investigation, 55(5), 1995, pp. 427-432
In order to acertain the dynamic relationship between the extracellula
r glucose in upper skin layers and blood glucose, skin suction blister
s were raised in six Type 1 diabetic patients during a three-step gluc
ose clamp. Blister glucose closely paralleled venous glucose (mean of
r=0.998). However, in three patients blister glucose was constantly lo
wer than plasma glucose and this appeared to be related to their slowe
r formation of skin blisters. A substantial difference in skin blister
suction time was noted among patients and it was found that suction t
ime was linearly correlated to glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA(1C)) (n=6
, r=0.865, p=0.026). It is concluded that a non-invasive blood glucose
monitoring system could be successfully based on measurement of alter
ations in skin glucose contents.