Biosensors for European Zoonotic Agents: A Current Portuguese Perspective.

Emerging and recurrent outbreaks caused by zoonotic agents pose a public health risk. They result in morbidity and mortality in humans and significant losses in the livestock and food industries. This highlights the need for rapid surveillance methods. Despite the high reliability of conventional pathogen detection methods, they have high detection limits and are time-consuming and not suitable for on-site analysis. Furthermore, the unpredictable spread of zoonotic infections due to a complex combination of risk factors urges the development of innovative technologies to overcome current limitations in early warning and detection. Biosensing, in particular, is highlighted here, as it offers rapid and cost-effective devices for use at the site of infection while increasing the sensitivity of detection. Portuguese research in biosensors for zoonotic pathogens is the focus of this review. This branch of research produces exciting and innovative devices for the study of the most widespread pathogenic bacteria. The studies presented here relate to the different classes of pathogens whose characteristics and routes of infection are also described. Many advances have been made in recent years, and Portuguese research teams have increased publications in this field. However, biosensing still needs to be extended to other pathogens, including potentially pandemic viruses. In addition, the use of biosensors as part of routine diagnostics in hospitals for humans, in animal infections for veterinary medicine, and food control has not yet been achieved. Therefore, a convergence of Portuguese efforts with global studies on biosensors to control emerging zoonotic diseases is foreseen for the future.

Influence of feeding graded levels of canned sardines on the inflammatory markers and tissue fatty acid composition of Wistar rats.

Canned sardines are a ready-to-use fish product with excellent nutritional properties owing to its high n-3 long-chain PUFA content, mainly EPA (20 : 5n-3) and DHA (22 : 6n-3). The present study aimed to assess the effect of two dosages of canned sardines, recommended for the primary and secondary prevention of human CVD, on the inflammatory marker concentrations and fatty acid composition of erythrocytes and key metabolic tissues (liver, muscle, adipose tissue and brain) in the rat model. Wistar rats were fed a diet containing 11 % (w/w) of canned sardines (low-sardine (LS) diet) and a diet containing 22 % (w/w) of canned sardines (high-sardine (HS) diet) for 10 weeks. Daily food intake, weight gain, and organ and final body weights were not affected by the dietary treatments. The concentrations of total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol decreased in both the LS and HS groups, while those of alanine aminotransferase and adiponectin increased. The concentrations of IL-1ß increased only with the highest dosage of sardine. The dose-dependent influence of the graded levels of EPA+DHA was tissue specific. Compared with that of other tissues and erythrocytes, the fatty acid composition of the brain was less affected by the canned sardine-supplemented diets. In contrast, the retroperitoneal adipose tissue was highly responsive. The deposition ratios of EPA and DHA indicated that the LS diet was optimal for DHA deposition across the tissues, except in the retroperitoneal adipose tissue. Taken together, our findings indicate that a LS diet positively affects plasma lipid profiles and inflammatory mediators, whereas a HS diet has contradictory effects on IL-1ß, which, in turn, is not associated with variations in the concentrations of other pro-inflammatory cytokines. This finding requires further investigation and pathophysiological understanding.