The method for non-invasively determining the relative levels of two
substances present in a biological system includes the steps of
extracting by reverse iontophoresis charged and uncharged substances from
said biological system, and collecting said substances, analysing the
collected amount of a first extracted substance and a second extracted
substance and determining the extraction ratio of the first substance to
the second substance to determine their relative levels in the biological
system. When the first and second substances are both analytes
susceptible to changes in their concentration in the biological system,
this method provides information about the relative concentrations of the
two substances in the biological system. When the first substance is an
analyte susceptible to changes in its concentration in the biological
system and the second substance has a substantially constant
concentration in the biological system, the second subtance acts as an
internal standard and the extraction ratio becomes a direct measurement
of the physiological level of the first substance in the biological
system. A iontophoretic sampling device for monitoring the relative
levels of two substances present in a biological system is also
disclosed.