Cortisol is a hormone released in response to stress and is a major glucocorticoid produced by adrenal glands. Here, we report a wearable sensory electronic chip using label-free detection, based on a platinum/graphene aptamer extended gate field effect transistor (EG-FET) for the recognition of cortisol in biological buffers within the Debye screening length. The device shows promising experimental features for real-time monitoring of the circadian rhythm of cortisol in human sweat. We report a hysteresis-free EG-FET with a voltage sensitivity of the order of 14 mV/decade and current sensitivity up to 80% over the four decades of cortisol concentration. The detection limit is 0.2 nM over a wide range, between 1 nM and 10 µM, of cortisol concentrations in physiological fluid, with negligible drift over time and high selectivity. The dynamic range fully covers those in human sweat. We propose a comprehensive analysis and a unified, predictive analytical mapping of current sensitivity in all regimes of operation.

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BackgroundAdenosine deaminase (ADA) is an enzyme that plays important roles in proliferation, maturation, function and development of the immune system. ADA activity may be altered by variety of substances including synthetic or natural products. Morphine, cocaine and their analogs exert immune suppressive activities by decreasing immune system function. The purpose of this study is to confirm that this possible effect may be modulated by interaction of these substances with ADA activity by experimental and computational method.MethodsThe structural changes in ADA have been studied in presence of cocaine, ethylmorphine, homatropine, morphine and thebaine by determination of ADA hydrolytic activity, circular dichroism and fluorescence spectroscopy in different concentrations. Docking study was performed to evaluate interaction method of test compound with ADA active site using AutoDock4 software.ResultsAccording to in-vitro studies all compounds inhibited ADA with different potencies, however thebaine activated it at concentration below 50 μM, ethylmorphine inhibited ADA at 35 μM. Moreover, fluorescence spectra patterns were differed from compounds based on structural resemblance which were very considerable for cocaine and homatropine.ConclusionThe results of this study confirms that opioids and some other stimulant drugs such as cocaine can alter immune function in illegal drug abusers. These findings may lead other investigators to develop a new class of ADA activators or inhibitors in the near future.

It has been shown that n-3 long chain fatty acids (n-3 LCFA) are involved in energy/lipid metabolisms, reproductive parameters, and molecular regulations leading to maintained homeostasis. We hypothesized that supplementation of peripartal diets with fish oil (FO), as a source of n-3 LCFA, could improve energy balance and modulate metabolic pressure in a sheep model. Prepartum ewes (n = 24) were fed control (CON) or calcium soap of fish oil (FO) supplemented-diet from four weeks before until three weeks after parturation. Feed intake, body weight (BW) change, plasma metabolites, colostrums/milk composition, and fatty acids profile of milk along with the expression of core microRNAs in glucose and lipid metabolism were evaluated. Prepartal feed intake decreased in FO group (1674 ± 33.26 vs. 1812 ± 35.56) though post-partal intake was similar. Differences in BW were not also significant (55.47 ± 2.07 in CON vs. 53.69 ± 1.94 in FO). No differences were observed in plasma metabolites except for cholesterol that was lower in FO group (56.25 ± 0.71 vs. 53.09 ± 0.61). Milk fat percentage was reduced (8.82 ± 0.49 vs. 7.03 ± 0.45) while the percentage of milk total n-3 LCFA increased in FO group. In accordance, the relative transcript abundance of miR-101 (0.215 ± 0.08) and miR-103 (0.37 ± 0.15) decreased by FO supplementation. Results showed that FO supplementation during peripartal period decreased milk fat, feed intake, plasma cholesterol, milk n-6:n-3 ratio and the expression of miR-101. Although the trend indicated that FO could alter lipid metabolism during transition period, further studies are needed to fully address its effect on energy balance and homeorhetic processes.