Pregnancy is a period that is characterized by several metabolic and physiological changes and requires special attention, especially with regard to the relationship between feeding and fetal development. Therefore, the objective of this study is to evaluate whether the practice of voluntary physical exercise in combination with chronic consumption of fructose from the beginning of life and/or until the gestational period causes biochemical and genotoxic changes in pregnant females and in their offspring. 70 Swiss female mice received fructose in the hydration bottle and/or practiced voluntary physical exercise (VPE) for 8 weeks (pre-pregnancy/pregnancy). After the lactation period, the offspring groups were separated by sex. It was observed that the consumption of fructose affected the food consumption, serum concentration of fructose and glycemic profile in the mothers and that the VPE decreases these parameters. In addition, fructose was genotoxic in the mothers’ peripheral tissues and VPE had a preventive effect on these parameters. The offspring showed changes in food consumption, serum fructose concentration and body weight, in addition to an increase in the adiposity index in male offspring in the FRU group and a decrease in the FRU+VPE group. Fructose lead to hepatic steatosis in the offspring and VPE was able to decrease the area of steatosis. In addition, fructose led to genotoxicity in the offspring and VPE was able to modulate this effect, reducing damages. In conclusion, we observed that all interventions with voluntary physical exercise had nutritional, genetic and biochemical benefits of the mother and her offspring.

Allergic sensitization is commonly assessed in patients by performing the skin prick test (SPT) or determining specific IgE levels in blood samples with the ImmunoCAP assay, which measures each allergen and sample separately. This paper explores the possibility to investigate respiratory allergies with a high throughput method, the Meso Scale Discovery (MSD) multiplex immunoassay, measuring IgE levels in low volumes of blood. The MSD multiplex immunoassay, developed and optimized with standards and allergens from Radim, was validated against the SPT and the ImmunoCAP assay. For 18 adults (15 respiratory allergy patients and 3 controls), blood collection and the SPT were performed within the same hour. Pearson correlations and Bland-Altman analysis showed high comparability of the MSD multiplex immunoassay and the ImmunoCAP assay, except for house dust mite. The sensitivity of the MSD multiplexed assay was ≥75% for most allergens compared to the SPT and ImmunoCAP assay. Additionally, the specificity of the MSD multiplex immunoassay was ≥80% - the majority showing 100% specificity. Only the rye allergen had a low specificity when compared to the SPT, probably due to cross-reactivity. The reproducibility of the MSD multiplex immunoassay, assessed as intra- and inter-assay reproducibility and biological variability between different sampling moments, showed significantly high correlations (r=0.943-1) for all tested subjects (apart from subject 13; r=0.65-0.99). The MSD multiplex immunoassay is a reliable method to detect specific IgE levels against respiratory allergens in a multiplexed and high throughput way, using blood samples as small as from a finger prick.

Background: Allergic sensitization is commonly assessed in patients by performing the skin prick test (SPT) or determining specific IgE levels in blood samples with the ImmunoCAP assay, which measures each allergen and sample separately. This paper explores the possibility to investigate respiratory allergies with a high throughput method, the Meso Scale Discovery (MSD) multiplex immunoassay, measuring IgE levels in low volumes of blood. Methods: The MSD multiplex immunoassay, developed and optimized with standards and allergens from Radim, was validated against the SPT and the ImmunoCAP assay. For 18 adults (15 respiratory allergy patients and 3 controls), blood collection and the SPT were performed within the same hour. Results: Pearson correlations and Bland-Altman analysis showed high comparability of the MSD multiplex immunoassay and the ImmunoCAP assay, except for house dust mite. The sensitivity of the MSD multiplexed assay was ≥75% for most allergens compared to the SPT and ImmunoCAP assay. Additionally, the specificity of the MSD multiplex immunoassay was ≥80% - the majority showing 100% specificity. Only the rye allergen had a low specificity when compared to the SPT, probably due to cross-reactivity. The reproducibility of the MSD multiplex immunoassay, assessed as intra- and inter-assay reproducibility and biological variability between different sampling moments, showed significantly high correlations (r=0.943-1) for all tested subjects (apart from subject 13; r=0.65-0.99). Conclusion: The MSD multiplex immunoassay is a reliable method to detect specific IgE levels against respiratory allergens in a multiplexed and high throughput way, using blood samples as small as from a finger prick.