Publications by authors named "Paula Marin"
Human placental explants (HPEs) culture has generated significant interest as a valuable in vitro model for studying tissue functions in response to adverse conditions, such as fluctuations in oxygen levels, nutrient availability, exposure to pathogenic microorganisms, and toxic compounds. HPEs offers the advantage of replicating the intricate microenvironment and cell-to-cell communication involved in this critical and transient organ. Although HPEs culture conditions have been extensively discussed, a protocol for assessing the viability and function of HPEs during short-term culture has not been previously outlined.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPlastic pollution is a critical environmental issue with far-reaching and not yet fully explored consequences. This study uncovered a significant source of plastic contamination arising from improper application and management of expanded polystyrene (EPS) utilised as expansion joints at a construction site near the coast of Antofagasta, Chile. Through meticulous field observations and calculations, we estimate that a staggering 82.
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- - DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) are severe threats to genome integrity, prompting eukaryotic cells to develop pathways for detecting damage, delaying the cell cycle, repairing the damage, and resuming normal function, mainly regulated by kinases ATR and ATM.
- - The protozoan parasite implicated in human African trypanosomiasis relies on a robust DNA damage response not only for survival after stress but also to facilitate antigenic variation to evade the host immune system.
- - Research using ATR knockdown shows that ATR is essential for managing cell cycle checkpoints, replication fork stalling, and the upregulation of the DNA repair protein RAD51 after DSBs, highlighting ATR’s critical role in coordinating the DNA
Article Synopsis
- The coexistence of DNA replication and RNA transcription in trypanosomatids, like Trypanosoma brucei, can create conflicts that potentially lead to genomic instability due to insufficient replication origins.* -
- The study found that T. brucei's genome has fewer replication origins than needed, necessitating the activation of backup origins to ensure DNA replication completes in the designated S-phase.* -
- R-loops formed during transcription can cause DNA damage, triggering the use of backup origins, which is crucial for the parasite's survival and highlights the importance of managing DNA replication amid transcription activities.*
is a protozoan parasite belonging to the Trypanosomatidae family. Although the trypanosomatids multiply predominantly by clonal generation, the presence of DNA exchange in some of them has been puzzling researchers over the years, mainly because it may represent a novel form that these organisms use to gain variability. Analysis of DNA Exchange using Thymidine Analogs (ADExTA) is a method that allows the detection and measurement of rates of DNA exchange, particularly in trypanosomatid cells, in a rapid and simple manner by indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA).
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- Researchers developed a method using halogenated thymidine analogues and immunostaining to effectively detect and quantify fused-cell hybrids of the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi.
- * The study specifically identified hybrids from T. cruzi clones CL Brener and Y, revealing a higher prevalence of these hybrids in a naturally occurring hybrid strain.
- * The findings suggest that the recombinase Rad51 plays a significant role in the genetic exchange process, as its overexpression correlates with increased detection of fused-cell hybrids in T. cruzi.
Article Synopsis
- Homologous recombination (HR) is a key mechanism for repairing double-strand breaks (DSBs) in eukaryotic organisms, including the parasite Trypanosoma brucei, although its recruitment process during DSB repair was previously unclear.
- Researchers used various techniques like immunofluorescence and DNA-content analysis to study the recruitment of HR proteins after DSBs induced by ionizing radiation, establishing that essential proteins (Exo1, RPA, and Rad51) were recruited sequentially, with a repair process lasting around 5.5 hours.
- The study also revealed that DSBs cause cell cycle arrest in the G1/S phase and a decline in the G2/M phase,
Background: Tuberculosis, one of the oldest diseases affecting human beings, is still considered as a world public health problem by the World Health Organization.
Method & Material: Therefore, there is a need for new and more powerful analytical methods for early illness diagnosis. With this idea in mind, the development of a High Fundamental Frequency (HFF) piezoelectric immunosensor for the sensitive detection of tuberculosis was undertaken.
While reduced estrogen levels have been shown to increase bone turnover and induce bone loss, there has been little analysis of the effects of diminished estrogen levels on the lacunar-canalicular porosity that houses the osteocytes. Alterations in the osteocyte lacunar-canalicular microenvironment may affect the osteocyte's ability to sense and translate mechanical signals, possibly contributing to bone degradation during osteoporosis. To investigate whether reduced estrogen levels affect the osteocyte microenvironment, this study used high-resolution microscopy techniques to assess the lacunar-canalicular microstructure in the rat ovariectomy (OVX) model of postmenopausal osteoporosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVancomycin therapy failure due to the emergence of tolerance in pneumococci is increasing. The molecular mechanism of tolerance is not clear, but lytA and pep27 are known to be involved. Our aim was to evaluate the expression of both genes in vancomycin-tolerant Streptococcus pneumoniae (VTSP) strains.
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