Publications by authors named "Maria Dolores Contreras-Aguilar"

The objective of this study was to evaluate the possible use of spectrophotometric assays for the measurement of trace elements, including Zinc (Zn), Copper (Cu), Magnesium (Mg), and iron (Fe) in the saliva of horses and study their possible changes in equine gastric ulcer syndrome (EGUS). EGUS is a highly prevalent disease, with a current high incidence due to the increase in intensive management conditions. There are two EGUS diseases: equine squamous gastric disease (ESGD) and equine glandular gastric disease (EGGD), which can appear individually or together.

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Introduction: Stress, described as an adaptation of the body to an event, is a considerable problem among health workers, especially for those who work in emergency situations, as they very often have to face complex situations. It has been proven that stress affects the performance of health professionals, which is why it is interesting to measure it in these situations, to be able to know what methods to implement to reduce it in future events. Despite having previous measurements in healthcare personnel during clinical simulations, this study is relevant because stress has never before been measured in EMS professionals when performing their work.

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Article Synopsis
  • The research aimed to create and validate two types of immunoassays for measuring oxytocin levels in human saliva, one utilizing a monoclonal antibody and the other a polyclonal antibody, with an analysis on antibody affinity.
  • The assays were validated against a commercial kit and used to assess oxytocin levels in response to physical exertion and psychological stress, both known to elevate salivary oxytocin.
  • Results indicated that while both assays correlated positively, they produced different ranges of oxytocin values, highlighting variability in measurements depending on the type of antibody used.
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Ammonia (NH) and bicarbonate (HCO) have been related to gastric ulcers in humans. Ammonia is considered a possible cause of gastric ulcers, whereas bicarbonate has a protective function. The presence of ulcers in the stomach of horses is defined as Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome (EGUS), which is a frequent disease in this species, and it has been associated with changes in saliva composition, such as in analytes related to inflammation, immune system and oxidative stress.

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Stress leukogram includes eosinopenia as one of its main markers (neutrophilia, eosinopenia, lymphopenia, and mild monocytosis). Cortisol is the main stress biomarker, which is also strongly correlated with the severity of gastrointestinal diseases. This study aimed to determine the relationship between salivary cortisol and the eosinophil cell count (EC) in equids with abdominal pain.

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Equine gastric ulcer syndrome (EGUS) is currently one of the more frequent diseases in horses. We aimed to identify changes in the salivary proteome in horses with EGUS at diagnosis and after successful treatment by using gel proteomics. Saliva samples were collected from nine horses with EGUS before and after treatment and nine matched healthy controls.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Equine gastric ulcer syndrome (EGUS) is a common and serious condition in horses that affects their performance and quality of life, with two main forms: ESGD and EGGD.
  • - This study aimed to identify calprotectin (CALP) and aldolase in horse saliva as potential biomarkers for diagnosing EGUS through validated automated assays.
  • - The results indicated that while these assays can effectively differentiate between healthy horses and those with EGUS, they don't significantly distinguish EGUS from other intestinal diseases, suggesting further research is needed.
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In this report, the measurement of salivary biomarkers as an aid for diagnosis of equine gastric ulcer syndrome (EGUS) was studied. A comprehensive panel of 23 salivary analytes was measured in the saliva of horses affected by EGUS and compared to healthy animals and horses with other diseases clinically similar to EGUS but with a negative diagnosis at gastroscopic examination. A total of 147 horses were included in the study and divided into heathy population ( = 12), the EGUS group ( = 110), and the group of horses with other diseases ( = 25).

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Changes in the salivary proteome in 12 horses with the two diseases included in equine gastric ulcer syndrome (EGUS), equine glandular gastric disease (EGGD) ( = 6) and equine squamous gastric disease (ESGD) ( = 6), were evaluated using a high-resolution LC-MS/MS analysis of TMT-labelled peptides and compared to 10 healthy control horses. Serum was also analysed for comparative purposes. The comparison between the horses with EGGD and controls showed significant changes in 10 salivary proteins, whereas 36 salivary proteins were differently abundant between ESGD and control groups.

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Changes in the oxidative status of the blood of horses suffering from gastric ulcers and colic of intestinal aetiology (CIE) have been reported. However, saliva can also be a source of biomarkers of oxidative status. Therefore, this study aims to validate automated assays for the measurement of oxidative status biomarkers (ferric reducing ability of saliva/serum-FRAS/FRAP, cupric reducing antioxidant capacity-CUPRAC, the Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity-TEAC, uric acid, and advanced oxidation protein products-AOPP) in the saliva and serum of horses, to assess their changes in the different ulcer gastric diseases (squamous-ESGD and glandular-EGGD) and CIE, and to evaluate their relationship with serum amyloid A (SAA), adenosine deaminase (ADA), and the systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) status.

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There is growing interest in oxytocin as a biomarker of stress and welfare. The objective of this study was to develop and validate a procedure based on a highly sensitive immunoassay to measure oxytocin in the hair of pigs. In addition, a pilot study to apply this procedure to evaluate possible changes in concentrations of oxytocin in hair during the reproductive cycle of pigs at different periods of the year was conducted.

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The aim of this study was to investigate the changes in the salivary proteome in horses with acute abdominal disease (AAD) using a tandem mass tags (TMT)-based proteomic approach. The saliva samples from eight horses with AAD were compared with six healthy horses in the proteomic study. Additionally, saliva samples from eight horses with AAD and eight controls were used to validate lactoferrin (LF) in saliva.

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Background: The possible use of oxytocin in saliva as an indicator of positive emotions in bovine species has been poorly investigated. In the present study, two new assays (one using a monoclonal antibody and the other using a polyclonal antibody) for the measurement of oxytocin in bovine saliva were developed and validated. Also, the changes in oxytocin in saliva were explored in two different situations.

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The objective of this study was to study the changes in salivary proteins that occur in the dog after the ejaculation process. Saliva samples from eight dogs before and after induced ejaculation were analyzed by proteomic using Tandem Mass Tag (TMT) labeling and LC-MS/MS analysis. A total of 33 salivary proteins showed significant changes after the ejaculation process.

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This study aims to evaluate the changes in salivary and serum proteomes that occur in canine diabetes mellitus type-1 (DM) through a high-throughput quantitative proteomic analysis. The proteomes of 10 paired serum and saliva samples from healthy controls (HC group, = 5) and dogs with untreated DM (DM group, = 5) were analyzed using Tandem Mass Tags (TMT)-based proteomic approach. Additionally, 24 serum samples from healthy controls and untreated DM were used to validate haptoglobin in serum.

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Background: Measurement of adenosine deaminase (ADA) can provide information about cell-mediated immunity. This report's objective was to study the enzymatic activity of total ADA (tADA) and its isoenzymes ADA1 and ADA2 in canine, equine, porcine, and bovine serum and saliva and their changes in different inflammatory situations in each species. Besides, an automated method for ADA2 measurement was developed and validated.

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Article Synopsis
  • * Two assays were utilized to measure both free and protein-linked oxytocin, along with stress-related biomarkers like cortisol and salivary alpha-amylase.
  • * Results indicated a significant decrease in oxytocin levels and an increase in stress biomarkers after 4 hours of transport, suggesting that the conditions negatively impacted the pigs' emotional well-being.
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  • The study investigates changes in the saliva proteins of female dogs with pyometra, aiming to find potential biomarkers for the disease.
  • It uses a high-throughput quantitative proteomic analysis to compare saliva samples from healthy dogs and those suffering from pyometra, identifying 16 unique proteins that are significantly altered in the diseased group.
  • Key proteins related to inflammation and disease response were found, suggesting saliva could be a useful, non-invasive source for diagnosing canine pyometra.
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The aim of this study was to evaluate changes in serum and saliva proteomes in canine mammary tumors (CMT) using a high-throughput quantitative proteomic analysis in order to potentially discover possible biomarkers of this disease. Proteomes of paired serum and saliva samples from healthy controls (HC group, = 5) and bitches with CMT (CMT group, = 5) were analysed using a Tandem Mass Tags-based approach. Twenty-five dogs were used to validate serum albumin as a candidate biomarker in an independent sample set.

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This study aims to evaluate the effect of the presence of food and the material used in a panel of biomarkers in saliva of horses. For the food effect study, clean saliva was incubated with a known amount of food consisting of oats, hay or grass. Significant changes were observed when saliva was incubated with oats for total protein (P = .

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A score system was used to evaluate pain, distress and discomfort in healthy pigs and pigs with two different diseases: lameness and rectal prolapse. In addition, correlations between the results of this score and a panel of salivary biomarkers and severity of disease were studied. This panel included biomarkers of stress (cortisol, salivary alpha-amylase (sAA), total esterase activity (TEA), butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) and lipase (Lip)), immunity (adenosine deaminase isozymes 1 (ADA1) and 2 (ADA2)) and oxidative status (uric acid (UA), Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC), cupric reducing antioxidant capacity (CUPRAC), ferric reducing ability of saliva (FRAS), advanced oxidation protein products (AOPP) and hydrogen peroxide (HO)).

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The aim of this study was to identify biological pathways and proteins differentially expressed in saliva of pigs in two conditions of compromised welfare: an acute stress consisting of restraint with a nose snare and in pigs with lameness which is a highly frequent problem in the swine industry. For this purpose, high-resolution quantitative proteomics based on Tandem Mass Tags labelling was used. Four proteins showed significant differences in the conditions of compromised welfare, namely cornulin, the heat shock protein 27 and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), that showed significant increases, whereas immunoglobulin J chain showed a significant decrease.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to determine if biochemical analytes commonly found in horse serum could also be detected in saliva and to assess changes in these analytes in horses suffering from acute abdominal disease.
  • Researchers validated 23 analytes in horse saliva and found significant increases in seven of these analytes when comparing healthy horses to those with the disease, confirming the findings in a larger group.
  • The notable analytes that increased included γ-glutamyl transferase, creatine kinase, urea, total bilirubin, total proteins, phosphorus, and alpha-amylase, which could effectively differentiate between healthy and diseased horses.
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Background: Biomarkers of oxidative stress in pigs have been measured in serum/plasma samples. However, blood collection in pigs can be highly stressful to the animals. Saliva is a biological fluid with several advantages in pigs over blood, since it can be easily collected without stress to the animals, being therefore an ideal sample in this species.

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