Exploration of interstitial fluid proteome in Homo sapiens forearm through a cutting edge intradermal microdialysis and high-throughput proteomics approach: a pilot study

There has been increasing interest in utilizing biofluids in combination with high-throughput omics to identify biomarkers, to unravel mechanisms underlying internal physiological environments. Interstitial fluid (ISF) is noted as a high potential biofluid for continuous monitoring of cellular microenvironment where various metabolic processes occur. This pilot study collected intradermal dialysate, reflective of ISF conditions, from human dorsal forearm (n = 1) using a novel vented-intradermal microdialysis probe, to analyze proteins, isolate them, and characterize their functions. Dialysate samples were checked for protein extracted in LB-TT, SDS-PAGE, and by LC–MS/MS. A protein–protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed with genes from STRING using Cytoscape. We identified a total of 1149 proteins. Network analysis revealed 228 proteins that were successfully identified with the PPI information in the database, where 10 were identified as highly connected proteins with 80 first neighbors. Conclusions must be drawn carefully given that skin dialysate was only collected from one participant in this pilot study. Nonetheless, skin dialysate may serve as an alternative for blood, yet further research is vital to clarify its potential for real-time continuous monitoring applications within sports science research and practices.