Fecundación in vitro de gametos de lapa

La evaluación de Patella depressa Pennant, 1777 como organismo indicador de la calidad ambiental de los ecosistemas marinos, mediante su uso como organismo prueba en un bioensayo embriolarvario, hace necesario un primer paso de puesta a punto de un protocolo estandarizado de fecundación in vitro de los gametos. En el presente estudio se analizaron los valores óptimos de diferentes variables para obtener el mayor porcentaje de éxito en la embriogénesis. En primer lugar es necesaria la exposición de los óvulos a una solución de agua de mar alcalinizada para producir su maduración. Los resultados sugieren un mayor éxito cuando son sometidos a un pH mayor de 9.0 durante 10 minutos utilizando hidróxido amónico (NH4OH) como base alcalinizadora. La tasa de fecundación también se ve afectada por el tiempo de fecundación, siendo mayor cuando el contacto entre los gametos tiene lugar durante 90 minutos y el esperma ha sido extraído directamente de la gónada masculina.Traballo fin de grao (UDC.CIE). Bioloxía. Curso 2013/201

Nanocarriers based on interpolyelectrolyte complexation of Sulphated polysaccharide-b- PEG diblock copolymers and PLL

Publicado em "Journal of Tissue Engeneering and Regenerative Medicine", vol. 7, supp. 1 (2013)Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are integral part of the closest cellular environment: they can be found on the cells surface and in the extracellular matrix, where they interact with different proteins acting as local regulator of their activity. The use of GAGs in the preparation of protein delivery nanosystems is, therefore, prominent but so far, underexploited mainly because of the heterogeneity (composition and molecular weights) of natural glycans and the multistep procedures needed to obtain GAGs’ synthetic analogues and diblock copolymers.1 Recently, we have shown that oxime click reaction can be applied as a straightforward methodology for the synthesis of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)- hyaluronic acid (HA) diblock copolymers.2 These copolymers formed nanosized interpolyelectrolyte complexes (45 to 150 nm) by interaction with poly- L -lysine (PLL).3 Unfortunately, these complexes are not stable at physiological ionic strength. Herein, we describe a strategy to overcome this drawback; chondroitin sulphate-b-PEG diblock copolymers (CS-b-PEG) were obtained using the same oxime click reaction. The stronger negative charge of sulphate groups (versus the carboxilic groups present in HA) resulted in the complexes with higher stability: interpolyelectrolyte complexes between PLL and (CS-b-PEG) are stable up to 260 mM ionic strenght. Because carbohydrates do not activate Tcells, we believe that the reported herein complexes have an enormous potential in both drug delivery and vaccination fields

Nitroso-Redox Crosstalk in Diabetic Cardiomyopathy

Diabetes mellitus is one of the most common chronic diseases worldwide. Diabetic cardiomyopathy (DM) is the deterioration of the myocardial function and morphology produced by the altered glucose metabolism imposed in diabetes. This process of cardiac deterioration involves the generation of oxidative species. In the diabetic heart, several sources contribute to the observed oxidative stress, such as xanthine oxidoreductase (XOR), nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH), nitrogen oxidases (NOX), mitochondria, and uncoupled nitric oxide synthases (NOS). A direct consequence of the increased production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is NOS uncoupling. This is the aftermath of the oxidation of tetrahydrobioterin (BH4), an essential cofactor for NOS activity. When NOS is uncoupled, its activity is redirected toward the production of superoxide, instead of nitric oxide (NO), further contributing to the oxidative process. This nitroso-redox disarrangement has a direct impact on the excitation-contraction-coupling machinery of the myocyte, in the mitochondrial stability impairing energy production and favoring apoptosis, myocardial fibrosis, ultimately reducing cardiac function. This review focuses on the impact of superoxide sources in the diabetic heart and the pharmacological approaches that are currently under investigation as possible therapeutic tools

Establishment of Infection Models in Zebrafish Larvae (Danio rerio) to Study the Pathogenesis of Aeromonas hydrophila

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CCBY)Aeromonas hydrophila is a Gram-negative opportunistic pathogen of fish and terrestrial animals. In humans, A. hydrophila mainly causes gastroenteritis, septicaemia, and tissue infections. The mechanisms of infection, the main virulence factors and the host immune response triggered by A. hydrophila have been studied in detail using murine models and adult fish. However, the great limitation of studying adult animals is that the animal must be sacrificed and its tissues/organs extracted, which prevents the study of the infectious processes in the whole living animal. Zebrafish larvae are being used for the analysis of several infectious diseases, but their use for studying the pathogenesis of A. hydrophila has never been explored. The great advantage of zebrafish larvae is their transparency during the first week after fertilization, which allows detailed descriptions of the infectious processes using in vivo imaging techniques such as differential interferential contrast (DIC) and fluorescence microscopy. Moreover, the availability of fluorescent pathogens and transgenic reporter zebrafish lines expressing fluorescent immune cells, immune marker genes or cytokines/chemokines allows the host–pathogen interactions to be characterized. The present study explores the suitability of zebrafish larvae to study the pathogenesis of A. hydrophila and the interaction mechanisms between the bacterium and the innate immune responses through an infection model using different routes for infection. We used an early-embryo infection model at 3 days post-fertilization (dpf) through the microinjection of A. hydrophila into the duct of Cuvier, caudal vein, notochord, or muscle and two bath infection models using 4 dpf healthy and injured larvae. The latter resembled the natural conditions under which A. hydrophila produces infectious diseases in animals. We compared the cellular processes after infection in each anatomical site by confocal fluorescence imaging and determined the implication of inflammatory immune genes by measuring gene expression by qPCR14 páginas, 5 figuras.-- This work was supported by the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7PEOPLE-2011-ITN) under the Marie-Curie Initial Training Network FishForPharma (PITN-GA-2011-289209) and by Project AGL2014-51773-C3 and Project 201230E057 (CSIC) from the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad.Peer reviewe

V Bienal de Arquitectura Latinoamericana. BAL2017 en Pamplona

La celebración el pasado mes de abril de una nueva edición, la quinta, de la Bienal de Arquitectura Latinoamericana BAL2017 congregó en Pamplona a una selección de quince equipos de arquitectos jóvenes latinoamericanos, provenientes de siete países. Con la inclusión de los trabajos enviados por bienalistas de ediciones anteriores, fueron en total treinta y dos los equipos y ocho los países representados, convirtiendo a Pamplona por unos días en un escaparate del mejor presente de la arquitectura emergente latinoamericana.The celebration last April of a new edition, the fifth edition of the BAL2017 Biennial of Latin American Architecture, brought together in Pamplona a selection of fifteen teams of young Latin American architects from seven countries. With the inclusion of the works sent by biennialists of previous editions, there were a total of thirty-two teams and eight countries represented, making Pamplona in a showcase of the best emerging Latin American architecture for a few days. The Biennial, which also offers its programs in Madrid and Barcelona, has two parts: one in which a guest country, Colombia in this case, stars in the conferences and debates that this time focused almost thematically on the well-known social achievements achieved in Medellín and Bogotá with the strategic use of architecture as an effective tool of social action, and a second where the selected teams presented their work. What has been seen has been a set of proposals of great interest and quality, with programs as small as single-family housing to as large as an intermodal center or a government building; with environments that range from the urban periphery, the historic center or the lush landscape. A set that conveys a feeling of optimism before an architecture with commitment, with reflection, with an ethical attitude in the proportion between the means and the ends pursued, with a constructive emphasis in the approaches. An architecture with a preferential option for the most with less that has a lot of common sense and a lot of ambition and intensity in the contents and that developed in an environment lacking the suffocating European regulations produces results that seen from this periphery are enviable

Proposal to inform European institutions regarding the regulation of conscientious objection to abortion.

The aim of this paper is to define a set of proposals to inform European institutions in the regulation of Conscientious Objection to abortion. The board of the European Society of Contraception and Reproductive Health Care (ESC) was informed on the elements that should in the opinion of the authors be included in a future regulation of Conscientious Objection to abortion in Europe. These elements are outlined in this paper and the debate about them could form the basis for recommendations to the international scientific community and the European institutions. As current measures governing the principle of conscientious objection result in negative consequences regarding women's access to sexual and reproductive health services, they should be changed. Healthcare services should adopt measures to guarantee that a woman's right to voluntary abortion is not limited by the practitioner's stance on the principle of conscientious objection. In the countries where conscientious objection is allowed, the regulation must clearly delineate the extent of the duties and the exemptions of professionals based on the principles of established social consensus. The recommendations included in this document specify measures on the rights of women, the rights and duties of the practitioner, the role of institutions and the role of professional associations