Elucidating Mitochondrial Function by Profiling of Mito-nuclear Gene Variations towards Understanding the Molecular Basis of Ayurvedic Prakriti: A Determinant of Health and Longevity

Upon approval from the Institutional Ethics Committee screening for healthy individuals, in the age agroup 18-25 will be done in the OPD of CARI, Bhubaneswar, extensive camps in various educational institutions in Bhubaneswar and various NGOs.The SRF and investigators will be engaged in the process of screening and prakriti assessment of the apparently healthy individuals.

Gender and age matched 605 apparently healthy participants (participants and a subset of study participants’ biological parents of the participants which will be equally and randomly selected as per feasibility of the study) satisfying the inclusion criteria who will voluntarily give written informed consent for the study would be enrolled as volunteers for participating in this study. The participant will be screened for prakriti using CCRAS AYUR Prakriti assessment web portal. The swasthya assessment will be done using the CCRAS Swasthya Assessment tool. The Agni assessment of the enrolled participant will be done through Agni assessment tool developed by CCRAS. The participants will be subjected to further screening using laboratory investigations (at ICMR-RMRCBB). The participants found as having excellent health as per SAS will be enrolled in study.

 Detailed demographic, personal including familial & habitual traits, and medical and treatment history of the participants will be recorded in a specific proforma developed incorporating Ayurveda details as well for the study.  The dietry recall of the participant will be done prior to sample collection. The perceived stress will be assessed using Perceived Stress Scale and anxiety level of participants will be assessed using the HAM-A scale and nutritional index measurement will be done  on the day of sample collection.

  Briefly, 3-4 ml peripheral blood would be collected from the forearm using heparin containing vacutainer tubes. The blood samples will be transported to ICMR-RMRCBB haematological and biochemical evaluation. These blood samples will be used for biochemical analysis to determine the physiological health, and antioxidant of the study participant. Blood spots will be collected in FTA cards as per the SOP and the dried blood spots in FTA cards will be transported to ICMR-RMRCBB for genomic DNA isolation, as per standard procedures, for use in the sequencing of the mito-nuclear ETC exome.