Publications by authors named "Luis Botana"

Article Synopsis
  • Okadaic acid (OA) and its related toxins, produced by dinoflagellates, enter the food chain through seafood and cause Diarrhetic Shellfish Poisoning (DSP) in humans, known collectively as Diarrhetic Shellfish Toxins (DSTs).
  • This study examined the effects of a sublethal dose of these toxins on mice, revealing that OA and Dinophysistoxin-1 (DTX1) resulted in more severe symptoms like diarrhea compared to Dinophysistoxin-2 (DTX2).
  • The research found that these toxins were distributed throughout the body, causing significant damage in the gastrointestinal tract, with differing rates of elimination: OA was expelled quickly while DTX2
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Some Penicillium strains used in cheese ripening produce emerging mycotoxins, notably roquefortine C (ROQC) and cyclopiazonic acid (CPA), as well as enniatins (ENNs) and beauvericin (BEA). Co-occurrence of these mycotoxins in natural samples has been reported worldwide, however, most studies focus on the toxicity of a single mycotoxin. In the present study, the effects of ROQC and CPA alone and in combination with BEA and ENNs A, A1, B, and B1 were analysed in human neuroblastoma cells.

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Yogurt, a milk-derived product, is susceptible to mycotoxin contamination. While various methods have been developed for the analysis of dairy products, only a few have been specifically validated for yogurt. In addition, these methods are primarily focus on detecting aflatoxins and zearalenone.

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Article Synopsis
  • Cyanobacterial blooms, driven by eutrophication and climate change, are increasing cyanotoxin levels in water, creating public health risks due to ineffective removal by current water treatment plants.
  • This study proposes a novel treatment using nanostructured beads with magnetic nanoparticles and various adsorbent materials to target cyanotoxins like microcystin-LR, cylindrospermopsin, and anatoxin-A.
  • Results showed two particle types effectively removed these toxins without harming human cell viability, suggesting this approach could be a safe and effective solution, although more research is needed.
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Enniatins (ENNs) A1 and B1, previously considered ionophores, are emerging mycotoxins with effects on Ca homeostasis. However, their exact mechanism of action remains unclear. This study investigated how these toxins affect Ca flux in SH-SY5Y cells.

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Natural toxins, such as mycotoxins and cyanotoxins, can contaminate food and feed, leading to toxicity in humans and animals. This study focused on using nine magnetic nanostructured agents to remove the main types of toxins. Initially, the efficacy of these materials was evaluated in water solutions, revealing that composites with sizes below 3 mm, containing magnetite, activated carbon, esterified pectin, and sodium alginate, removed up to 90% of mycotoxins and cyanotoxins with an adsorption of 873 ng/g.

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Exploring the chemical diversity present in cyanobacterial mats increasingly frequent in fresh and marine waters is imperative for both evaluating risks associated with these diverse biofilms and their potential for biodiscovery. During a project aimed at the study of the (eco)toxicity of benthic cyanobacteria blooming in some lakes of the West of Ireland, three previously undescribed ahp-cyclodepsipeptides micropeptin LOF941 (1), micropeptin LOF925 (2) and micropeptin LOF953 (3) were isolated from the Microcoleus autumnalis-dominated benthic cyanobacterial biofilm collected from the shore of Lough O'Flynn, Co. Roscommon, Ireland.

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Psammaplins are sulfur containing bromotyrosine alkaloids that have shown antitumor activity through the inhibition of class I histone deacetylases (HDACs). The cytotoxic properties of psammaplin A (), the parent compound, are related to peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) activation, but the mechanism of action of its analogs psammaplin K () and bisaprasin () has not been elucidated. In this study, the protective effects against oxidative stress of compounds -, isolated from the sponge , were evaluated in SH-SY5Y cells.

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Article Synopsis
  • Gnomoniopsis smithogilvyi is the main fungus causing chestnut brown rot, leading to economic losses due to decreased fruit production and altered nut quality.
  • An outbreak was reported in southern Galicia in 2021, prompting research into the fungus's secondary metabolites and potential mycotoxin production.
  • The study identified three notable metabolites and confirmed that while G. smithogilvyi produces adenosine, it does not produce harmful mycotoxins, suggesting chestnuts with rot are safe to consume.
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Paralytic shellfish poisoning is a foodborne illness that typically derive from the consumption of shellfish contaminated with saxitoxin-group of toxins produced by dinoflagellates of the genus Gymnodinium, Alexandrium and Pyrodinium. N-sulfocarbamoyl, carbamate and dicarbamoyl are the most abundant. In 2007 and 2008 some episodes of PSP occurred in Angola where there is not monitoring program for shellfish contamination with marine biotoxins.

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  • There is an increasing concern about ciguatera fish poisoning due to the rise of ciguatoxin-producing microorganisms, necessitating a fast and reliable detection method for ciguatoxins to ensure food safety.
  • The study evaluated various cell lines for their effectiveness in ciguatoxin detection, highlighting issues with the standard N2a cell line, which showed low sodium channel availability and high sensitivity to chemicals used for sensitization.
  • The HEK293 Nav cell line, expressing specific sodium channel subunits, was identified as a suitable alternative for detecting ciguatoxins, enabling detection down to very low concentrations without the need for prior sensitization.
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Article Synopsis
  • Emerging marine biotoxins like ciguatoxins and brevetoxins have been studied individually but their combined effects in seafood have not been thoroughly addressed in regulations.
  • Research shows that these toxins exhibit a synergistic effect on human sodium channels, altering their activation and inactivation states.
  • This study lays the groundwork for further investigation into other food toxins that may interact similarly, prompting the need for updated regulations to account for these combined risks to health.
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Brevetoxins (PbTxs) are emerging marine toxins that can lead to Neurotoxic Shellfish Poisoning in humans by the ingestion of contaminated seafood. Recent reports on brevetoxin detection in shellfish in regions where it has not been described before, arise the need of updated guidelines to ensure seafood consumers safety. Our aim was to provide toxicological data for brevetoxin 3 (PbTx3) by assessing oral toxicity in mice and comparing it with intraperitoneal administration.

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In recent years, plant-based beverages have gained popularity on the market due to environmental and ethical concerns, as well as milk intolerances and allergies. However, raw materials employed in the manufacture of these products are susceptible to mycotoxin contamination. For this reason, a new method based on a QuEChERS extraction procedure followed by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) detection was developed for the analysis of 29 mycotoxins in oat, rice, soy, and almond beverages.

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Cyclophilins are a family of chaperones involved in inflammation and cell death. Cyclophilin B is released by inflammatory cells and acts through the receptor CD147, affecting matrix metalloproteases release, whilst cyclophilin D participates in hypoxia-induced apoptosis. Previous studies related hormones like estradiol or prolactin to these proteins, however, their blood concentrations across the menstrual cycle have not been determined.

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Inflammation is the leading subjacent cause of many chronic diseases. Despite several studies in the last decades, the molecular mechanism involving its pathophysiology is not fully known. Recently, the implication of cyclophilins in inflammatory-based diseases has been demonstrated.

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Dinoflagellates of the genus Alexandrium cause Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) in coastal waters worldwide, damaging marine environments, aquaculture, and human health. They synthesize potent neurotoxic alkaloids known as PSTs (i.e.

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Cyclophilins are chaperone proteins that play important roles in signal transduction. Among them, cyclophilins A, B, C, and D were widely associated with inflammation and cardiovascular diseases. Cyclophilins A and C have been proposed as coronary artery disease biomarkers.

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Background: Given the recent detection of tetrodotoxin (TTX) in bivalve molluscs but the absence of a full collaborative validation study for TTX determination in a large number of shellfish samples, interlaboratory assessment of method performance was required to better understand current capabilities for accurate and reproducible TTX quantitation using chemical and immunoassay methods.

Objective: The aim was to conduct an interlaboratory study with multiple laboratories, using results to assess method performance and acceptability of different TTX testing methods.

Methods: Homogenous and stable mussel and oyster materials were assessed by participants using a range of published and in-house detection methods to determine mean TTX concentrations.

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Mycotoxins can produce toxic effects on humans; hence, it is of high importance to determine their presence in food products. This work presents a reliable method for the quantification of 32 mycotoxins in cheese. The analysis procedure was optimized based on a QuEChERS extraction process and the ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) detection.

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Emerging marine biotoxins such as ciguatoxins and pyrethroid compounds, widely used in agriculture, are independently treated as environmental toxicants. Their maximum residue levels in food components are set without considering their possible synergistic effects as consequence of their interaction with the same cellular target. There is an absolute lack of data on the possible combined cellular effects that biological and chemical pollutants, may have.

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Seaweeds are a great source of compounds with cytotoxic properties with the potential to be used as anticancer agents. This study evaluated the cytotoxic and proteasome inhibitory activities of 12-hydroxy-bromosphaerol, 12-hydroxy-bromosphaerol, and bromosphaerol isolated from . The cytotoxicity was evaluated on malignant cell lines (A549, CACO-2, HCT-15, MCF-7, NCI-H226, PC-3, SH-SY5Y, and SK-MEL-28) using the MTT and LDH assays.

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Extracellular cyclophilins (eCyps) A and B are chemotactic mediators in several illnesses in which inflammation plays an important role such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Recently, eCypC has been reported as a potential biomarker for coronary artery disease but its effect in endothelium has not been determined. Moreover, there is a lack of studies with all these proteins in the same model, which makes difficult a direct comparison of their effects.

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Okadaic acid (OA) is an important marine lipophilic phycotoxin responsible for diarrhetic shellfish poisoning (DSP). This toxin inhibits protein phosphatases (PPs) like PP2A and PP1, though, this action does not explain OA-induced toxicity and symptoms. Intestinal epithelia comprise the defence barrier against external agents where transport of fluid and electrolytes from and to the lumen is a tightly regulated process.

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Enniatins (ENNs) A1 and B1 are non-regulated mycotoxins produced by Fusarium spp. that commonly occur in different types of food. These toxins are cytotoxic in several cell lines, but their mechanism of action is unclear.

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