University of Lisbon Metabolism Studies Using Water Equilibration Method
The University of Lisbon’s Faculty of Human Kinetics (www.fmh.ulisboa.pt) hosted Senior Field Service & Installation Engineer David Harris late last month for a service visit.
The Faculty’s Exercise and Health lab is run by Analiza Mónica Silva (https://ciper.fmh.ulisboa.pt/research-groups/exercise-precision/research-group-leader) who works with Flávio Jerónimo & Filipe Jesus to run metabolism studies using the water equilibration method.
They’ve developed a double test where they run a single sample twice to look at HD & 18O in 12ml exetainers on a bespoke Sercon heated bed – the bespoke bed is designed to accommodate 12ml vials, more effective for their purposes. Analiza and her team also work closely with Dr. Hiroyuki Sagayama at the University of Tsukuba and Dr. Yamada at Fukuoka University, including research involving stable isotope methodologies and mass spectrometry.
Analiza explains that at the Lisbon-based Exercise and Health Laboratory “Stable isotope techniques are used for the assessment of body composition and energy metabolism. This includes the determination of total body water using deuterium dilution, as well as doubly labelled water using deuterium and oxygen-18 for the assessment of free-living total energy expenditure and water turnover. The Sercon isotope ratio mass spectrometry system provides the isotope enrichment analyses that are central to these applications.”
Scientific outputs of the collaborations include the papers: Skeletal Muscle Mass Is Independently Associated With Water Turnover in Male Athletes [Skeletal Muscle Mass Is Independently Associated With Water Turnover in Male Athletes | Request PDF] and Water intake in athletes: Agreement between food records and isotope-dilution methods (https://www.clinicalnutritionjournal.com/article/S0261-5614(24)00423-0/fulltext) – and Analiza is keen to point out something that may not be immediately apparent from the paper: “One of the important aspects for us is that the Sercon system supports a broader research programme rather than a single application. We use stable isotope analysis across studies of body composition, hydration, energy expenditure and energy balance, and it also provides an important methodological platform for our international collaborations.”
The lab team runs a PZD Europa and an upgraded Hydra system, which Dave serviced during his visit, leaving the system running well.
With just a short amount of down time on the visit, Dave managed to explore Sintra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site 15 miles north-west of Lisbon, for a couple of hours – though he did get drenched in a heavy shower on the steps!
If you’d like to talk to us about upgrades and service for existing equipment, just email us at service@sercongroup.com, we’d be happy to hear from you.
#instrumentservice #metabolicresearch
More information on the research undertaken by the Faculty of Human Kinetics at the University of Lisbon team can be found here: https://labes.fmh.ulisboa.pt/ and the research group Exercise Precision as part of the founded research unit CIPER (https://ciper.fmh.ulisboa.pt/presentation)
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