Multi-frequency bioelectrical impedance analysis of skin rubor with two-electrode technique.
BACKGROUND
Skin rubor, or reddish discoloration on skin, is a sign of irritation. Physiologically it involves temporary vasodilation and hyperaemia in tissue, and is diagnosed by the visible characteristics.


OBJECTIVE
Bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) was tested to estimate skin rubor.


METHODS
Five healthy women (22-25 years) participated in the experiments. Four were ethanol patch test (EPT)-positive; one was negative. A skin rubor was developed on the subjects' left forearm by temporary vasodilatation, which was caused by a dermal inflammation reaction due to application of ethanol to the skin. BIA was then conducted for the skin rubor and the intact skin using a lock-in amplifier with a frequency range of 0.1Hz-10kHz. The impedance changes due to vasodilatation of capillary were evaluated.


RESULTS
The resistance of the skin rubor was found to decrease to almost 90% of the resistance and 87% of the reactance of the intact skin in the EPT-positive subjects. There was no impedance change in the EPT-negative subject. Through these experiments, skin rubor could be distinguished from intact skin based on the electrical impedance.


CONCLUSIONS
Skin rubor could be identified based on the bioelectrical impedance. This method would be used for various skin diagnoses due to simplicity and reliability of BIA.
Uchiyama
Tomoka
T
Department of Human Environmental Sciences, Graduate School of Humanities and Sciences, Ochanomizu University, 2-1-1 Otsuka Bunkyou-ku, Tokyo 112-8610, Japan. g0770504@edu.cc.ocha.ac.jp
Ishigame
Shoko
S
Niitsuma
Junko
J
Aikawa
Yoshihiro
Y
Ohta
Yuji
Y
D000328:Adult; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D017097:Electric Impedance; D004566:Electrodes; D004890:Erythema / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000175:diagnosis*; D000431:Ethanol / Q000009:adverse effects; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation; D008838:Microcomputers; D009730:Nursing Assessment / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D010781:Photography; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation; D012867:Skin / Q000098:blood supply; D014664:Vasodilation / Q000187:drug effects
D000431:Ethanol