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Introduction
My research project consists of adapting and developing non-invasive biomarkers to study the health status of fish and their potential applicability as indicators of pollution stress in a multiple-stress context (environmental monitoring programs).
Current institution
Additional affiliations
January 2019 - January 2023
May 2016 - April 2018
May 2012 - April 2016
Publications
Publications (36)
Th17 is a lymphocyte T helper (Th) subpopulation relevant in the control and regulation of the immune response characterized by the production of interleukin (IL)-17. This crucial cytokine family acts through their binding to the IL-17 receptors (IL-17R), having up to six members. Although the biology of fish Th17 is well-recognized, the molecular...
The increased knowledge of functional foods has led to the development of a new generation of health products, including those containing probiotics and products derived from them. Shewanella putrefaciens Pdp11 (SpPdp11) is a strain described as a probiotic that exerts important beneficial effects on several farmed fish. However, the use of live pr...
Cell-mediated cytotoxicity is a complex immune mechanism that involves the release of several killing molecules, being perforin (PRF) one of the most important effector players. Perforin is synthesized by T lymphocytes and natural killer cells in mammals and responsible for the formation of pores on the target cell membrane during the killing proce...
Marine environments receive plastic waste, where it suffers a transformation process into smaller particles. Among them, microplastics (MPs; <5 mm) are ingested by aquatic organisms leading to negative effects on animal welfare. The interactions between MPs, contaminants and organisms are poorly understood. To clarify this issue, European seabass (...
T cell activation is a multifaceted process that depends on the activation of the T cell receptor (TCR). However, other coreceptors are also strictly necessary to provide co-signals and modulate the immune response. However, to date, most of these coreceptors are unknown in fish or their information is very limited. Therefore, in this work, we have...
Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are a potent arm of the innate immune system that can directly kill pathogens and induce immunomodulation. In the marine aquaculture, European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax L.) is one of the most prosperous species but is highly susceptible to nodavirus (NNV), which produces high rates of mortality in larvae and juven...
Dear Colleagues,
Fish intake plays an important role in the human diet, providing proteins of high nutritional value. The improvement of fish farming systems has made aquaculture an expanding sector that already supplies more than 50% of the fish protein consumed worldwide, surpassing fish catches. With the intensive growth of fish, the incidence...
Nanoplastics (NPs) might cause different negative effects on aquatic organisms at different biological levels, ranging from single cells to whole organisms, including cytotoxicity, reproduction, behavior or oxidative stress. However, the impact of NPs on disease resistance is almost unknown. The objective of this study was to assess whether exposur...
The protozoan parasite Cryptocaryon irritans causes marine white spot disease in a wide range of fish hosts, including gilthead seabream, a very sensitive species with great economic importance in the Mediterranean area. Thus, we aimed to evaluate the immunity of gilthead seabream after a severe natural outbreak of C. irritans. Morphological altera...
Nanoplastics (NPs) are one of the most abundant environment-threatening nanomaterials on the market. The objective of this study was to determine in vitro if functionalized NPs are cytotoxic by themselves or increase the toxicity of metals. For that, we used 50 nm polystyrene nanoparticles with distinct surface functionalization (pristine, PS-Plain...
Antimicrobial peptides (AMP) comprise a wide range of small molecules with direct antibacterial activity and immunostimulatory role and are proposed as promising substitutes of the antibiotics. Additionally, they also exert a role against other pathogens such as viruses and fungi less evaluated. NK-lysin, a human granulysin orthologue, possess a do...
Allelopathy is an efficient strategy by which some microalgae can outcompete other species. Allelochemicals from the toxic dinoflagellate Alexandrium minutum have deleterious effects on diatoms, inhibiting metabolism and photosynthesis and therefore give a competitive advantage to the dinoflagellate. The precise mechanisms of allelochemical interac...
For the activation of T cells, it is necessary the specific recognition of the peptide by the T cell receptors (TCR) in the surface of antigen-presenting cells (APCs) and additional signals delivered by costimulatory receptors. In fish, knowledge about the presence of these costimulatory signals is limited and functional evidence almost absent. Thu...
Oysters are keystone species that use external fertilization as a sexual mode. The gametes are planktonic and face a wide range of stressors, including plastic litter. Nanoplastics are of increasing concern because their size allows pronounced interactions with biological membranes, making them a potential hazard to marine life. In the present stud...
Interleukin-17 (IL-17) cytokine comprises a family of six ligands in mammals with proinflammatory functions, having an important role in autoimmune disorders and against bacterial, viral, and fungal pathogens. While IL-17A and IL-17F ligands are mainly produced by Th cells (Th17 cells), the rest of the ligands are expressed by other immune and non-...
FREE ARTICLE LINK UNTIL JULY 1st, 2019: https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1Z2BpzLNSRqpN
Due to the growing concern about the presence of microplastics (MP) in the environment, the number of studies evaluating the toxicity of these small persistent particles on different marine species has increased in recent years. Few studies have addressed their im...
The potential presence of nanoplastics (NP) in aquatic environments represents a growing concern regarding their possible effects on aquatic organisms. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of polystyrene (PS) amino-modified particles (50 nm PSeNH2) on the cellular and metabolic responses of the diatom Chaetoceros neogracile cultures...
Biomarkers are useful tools to assess biological effects of pollutants that are extensively used in monitoring programs to assess ecosystem health. However, they are strongly affected by mussel physiological state, especially nutritive status, which has led to the search of new biological indicators of chemical pollutants exposition. Environmental...
In the marine environment, most bivalve species base their reproduction on external fertilization. Hence, gametes and young stages face many threats, including exposure to plastic wastes which represent more than 80% of the debris in the oceans. Recently, evidence has been produced on the presence of nanoplastics in oceans, thus motivating new stud...
Marine plastic pollution is a major environmental issue. Given their ubiquitous nature and small dimensions, ingestion of microplastic (MP) and nanoplastic (NP) particles and their subsequent impact on marine life are a growing concern worldwide. Transfers along the trophic chain, including possible translocation, for which the hazards are less und...
While the detection and quantification of nano-sized plastic in the environment remains a challenge, the growing number of polymer applications mean that we can expect an increase in the release of nanoplastics into the environment by indirect outputs. Today, very little is known about the impact of nano-sized plastics on marine organisms. Thus, th...
Marine bivalves including mussels Mytilus galloprovincialis are commonly used as sentinels for pollution monitoring and ecosystem health assessment in the coastal zones. Use of biomarkers to assess the pollution effects assumes that the effects of pollutants on the biomarkers exceed the natural background variability; yet this assumption has rarely...
International Conference on Microplastic Pollution in the Mediterranean Sea (μMED)
www.escpb.eu/ -- The implementation of the European Union’s Marine Strategy Framework Directive (2008/56/EC) requires the knowledge of the biological responses of organisms to pollution. The interaction of factors such as environmental quality (presence of pollutants), mussel nutrition and mussel reproductive state may lead to the misinterpretation...
The effects of polystyrene microbeads (micro-PS; mix of 2 and 6 μm; final concentration: 32 μg L−1) alone or in combination with fluoranthene (30 μg L−1) on marine mussels Mytilus spp. were investigated after 7 days of exposure and 7 days of depuration under controlled laboratory conditions. Overall, fluoranthene was mostly associated to algae Chae...
Biomarkers have been extensively used in monitoring programs with the aim of assessing the biological effects of pollutants on marine organisms and determining environmental status. Data obtained from these programs are sometimes difficult to interpret due to the large amount of natural variables affecting biological processes, which could act as c...
https://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.setac.org/resource/resmgr/Abstract_Books/SETAC-Barcelona-abstracts.pdf -- Xenobiotics produce important immunological disorders in marine organisms, as in the mussel, M. galloprovincialis. The study of these alterations in laboratory studies is really useful in order to identify biomarker responses of organisms to poll...
