Vespa amino acid mixture (VAAM) is a synthetic blend of amino acids, which has been proven to increase rates of aerobic cellular metabolism by increasing net ATP production in various eukaryotes. The mechanism through which VAAM increases ATP production is unknown; our work suggests that VAAM augments the proton motive force. In order to quantitatively evaluate the effects of VAAM on mitochondrial metabolism, we measured the levels of reactive oxygen species, relative NAD+/NADH levels, caspase activation, mitochondrial membrane integrity, and ATP levels in yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) with differing doses of VAAM at multiple time points. The levels of reactive oxygen species increased within five minutes of the exposure to the lowest dose of VAAM (0.003%, 1% of the recommended dose) and time points beyond five minutes yielded toxic levels and activation of caspase. This was also demonstrated with NAD+/NADH levels, higher levels of NAD+ were observed in the VAAM treated cells, indicating an increase in entry of electrons into the transport chain, leading to the observed increase in ATP production. We attempted to counteract the actions of VAAM by adding α‐tocopherol (an antioxidant) and 2,4‐dinitrophenol (DNP, a proton motive force uncoupler) to the VAAM treatment separately. The antioxidants reduced the production of reactive oxygen species only slightly, and did not significantly lower the production of ATP. Surprisingly, DNP, known to uncouple the proton motive force, was successful in prolonging the life of the cell in the presence of VAAM. This taken in account with the increase in ATP production leads us to believe that VAAM facilitates electron transport leading to enhanced coupling with the activity of ATP synthase.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

The goal of this project is to test students and faculties stress levels in their saliva compared between the beginning of this semester and the end of the semester. IgA levels are influenced by many physiological factors, including the hormones associated with stress. The findings conclude that there is significance between IgA levels in a student or faculty based on hours since they had left class and hours until they have class. Students and faculty showed a correlation between IgA and time since being in class or work (p-value = 0.03), however no significance of the duration of the expected rest period (p-value = 0.71). The significance of this finding is that students and faculty tend to be more stressed after being in class/work based on IgA levels in their saliva.

The most well known fact about sleep is that humans need it - while we are asleep our metabolic processes slow down and during long periods of sleep our bodies repair the damage that the stress our bodies have undergone throughout the day. Throughout the day our bodies are bombarded by signals from the environment, and undergoes biological changes in response to external and internal stimuli. Sleep is a period of time to restore the body to optimum condition to continue the process all over again the next day. The human body regulates stress by producing glucocorticoid steroid hormones, which also function as immune response suppressants. During sleep cortisol levels are decreased as they inhibit the body’s period of restoration. The production of immunoglobulin A, an antibody associated with mucosal membranes, is inhibited by glucocorticoids, and thus shows a relationship with sleep and other factors associated with stress. This experiment focused on correlations between sleep and stress found on the campus of Radford University. Our groups recorded the amount of sleep participants acquired the previous night and how long they had been awake, and correlated these with the concentration of salivary IgA. According to our initial data collection there was no significant correlation between the amount of sleep (p=0.305) or hours awake (0.670) to IgA levels. Additional sampling later in the semester will be used to supplement this data set and mapped using geospatial coordinates.

Our study is to determine and compare human IgA levels to self reported stress levels of college students and faculty at the beginning of the college semester, when stress levels are expected to be low, as compared to a later point in the semester, when stress levels are expected to be higher. This study is significant because the data will provide us with information regarding whether or not people are as biologically stressed as they report at different periods of the semester. Individuals are expected to be at a lower stress level at the beginning of the semester than at the end of the semester. Biological stressors are indications that the psychological and physical aspects of an organism are attempting to maintain an equilibrium in order to function properly. We are interested in quantifying biopsychological stressors between mental and physical stress responses and the effect of psychosomatic influence. To analyze samples for IgA molecules levels in comparison to proclaim stress levels to determine if students are as physically stressed as they are mentally feeling stressed. Stress was reported on a zero to ten scale and these reports will be compared to actual levels of human IgA attained from saliva samples. Geospatial coordinates have been taken to relate the data to location across campus. After a regression test, showing a P value of 0.206, it was clear that there was no significant correlation in the data. This tells us that, overall, the levels of IgA, and therefore stress, did not relate to the reported level of stress from the participants.