Monitoring physiological variables with membrane probes.

Membrane probes are implantable devices, which can be used to sample from the interstitial fluid of the tissues in which they are implanted. Two types of membrane probes, one based on microdialysis and the other on ultrafiltration, were developed and tested in vitro for the following analytes: sodium, potassium, chloride, glucose and lactate. These membrane probes were then implanted subcutaneously in rats and used to monitor changes in interstitial analytes during the head-down tilt model of microgravity.