Noninvasive method for measuring metabolites for skin health

A method for diagnosing skin health in a subject comprising:

• a) applying an adhesive article to an epithelium of a mammal;
• b) allowing for adherence of epithelial cells to the adhesive article;
• c) removing the adhesive article from the epithelium of the mammal;
• d) preparing the adhesive article using standard laboratory methods for extraction;
• e) extracting a small molecule biomarker from the epithelial cells adhered to said adhesive article;
• f) measuring the small molecule biomarker from the epithelial cells adhered to said adhesive article;
• g) determining the amount of the small molecule biomarker in the epithelial cells as compared to a baseline sample.
• h) extracting a detected small molecule biomarker, wherein the detected small biomarker is at least one compound chosen from:
• a compound generated by metabolism of amino acids, a compound generated by dipeptides metabolism, a compound generated by nucleic acids, a compound generated by metabolism of lipids, a compound generated by metabolism of carbohydrates, and mixtures thereof and further small molecule biomarkers as listed in Table 1.

A method for diagnosing skin health in a subject comprising:

• a) collecting a skin cell sample from the subject;
• b) detecting a level of one or more small molecule biomarkers in the epithelial cell sample/skin cell sample;
• c) comparing the level of detected small molecule biomarker in the epithelial cell sample to a small molecule biomarker reference level to thereby generate a differential level, wherein the small molecule biomarker reference level corresponds to one or more of the following:
• wherein the detected small molecule is at least one compound chosen from:
• a compound generated by metabolism of amino acids, a compound generated by dipeptides metabolism, a compound generated by nucleic acids, a compound generated by metabolism of lipids, a compound generated by metabolism of carbohydrates, and mixtures thereof and further small molecule biomarkers as listed in Table 1.

A method of objectively measuring the perception of a symptom in mammals, said method comprising the steps of:

• a) applying as adhesive article to an epithelium of a mammal;
• b) allowing for the adherence of epithelial cells to the adhesive article;
• c) removing the adhesive article from the epithelium of the mammal;
• d) preparing the adhesive article using standard laboratory methods for extraction;
• e) extracting small molecule biomarker from the epithelial cells adhered to said adhesive article;
• f) measuring small molecule biomarker from the epithelial cells adhered to said adhesive article and;
• g) determining the amount of small molecule biomarker in the epithelial cells as compared to a baseline sample.