Caroll Beltran

University of Chile · Departamento de Medicina

Background/aims: Chronic psychological stress affects gastrointestinal physiology which may underpin alterations in the immune response and epithelial transport, both functions are partly regulated by enteric nervous system. However, its effects on enteric neuroplasticity are still unclear. This study aims to investigate the effects of chronic unp...

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a complex and heterogeneous disorder considered a liver-damaging manifestation of metabolic syndrome. Its prevalence has increased in the last decades due to modern-day lifestyle factors associated with overweight and obesity, making it a relevant public health problem worldwide. The clinical progression...

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a gut-brain disorder of multifactorial origin. Evidence of disturbed serotonergic function in IBS accumulated for the 5-HT3 receptor family. 5-HT3Rs are encoded by HTR3 genes and control GI function, and peristalsis and secretion, in particular. Moreover, 5-HT3R antagonists are beneficial in the treatment of diarrh...

Background Chile was severely affected by COVID19 outbreaks but was also one of the first countries to start a nationwide program to vaccinate against the disease. Furthermore, Chile became one of the fastest countries to inoculate a high percentage of the target population and implemented homologous and heterologous booster schemes in late 2021 to...

Background Chile was severely affected by COVID19 outbreaks but was also one of the first countries to start a nationwide program to vaccinate against the disease. Furthermore, Chile became one of the fastest countries to inoculate a high percentage of the target population and implemented homologous and heterologous booster schemes in late 2021 to...

The presence of digestive symptoms associated with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in remission is a topic of growing interest. Although there is heterogeneity in clinical studies regarding the use of IBD remission criteria and the diagnosis of IBS, the available data indicate that the IBD–IBS overla...

Introduction Disruption of intestinal barrier is a key component to various diseases. Whether barrier dysfunction is the cause or effect in these situations is still unknown, although it is believed that translocation of luminal content may initiate gastrointestinal or systemic inflammatory disorders. Since trauma- or infection-driven epithelial pe...

Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is one of the leading causes of morbidity among adults with alcohol use disorder (AUD) worldwide. Its clinical course ranges from steatosis to alcoholic hepatitis, progressing to more severe forms of liver damage, such as cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. The pathogenesis of ALD is complex and diverse elements ar...

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a gut‐brain disorder in which symptoms are shaped by serotonin acting centrally and peripherally. The serotonin transporter gene SLC6A4 has been implicated in IBS pathophysiology, but the underlying genetic mechanisms remain unclear. We sequenced the alternative P2 promoter driving intestinal SLC6A4 expression and...

Resumen La presencia de síntomas digestivos asociados al síndrome de intestino irritable (SII) en pacientes con enfermedad inflamatoria intestinal (EII) en remisión, es un tema de interés creciente. Si bien existe una heterogeneidad de los estudios clínicos en relación al uso de criterios de remisión de la EII y del diagnóstico de SII, los datos di...

Subclinical primary Pneumocystis infection is the most common pulmonary infection in early infancy, making it important to determine whether it damages the lung. Pneumocystis peaks at two to five months of age, when respiratory morbidity coincidently increases. We have documented that Pneumocystis increases mucus production in infant lungs, and ani...

Illusory parasitosis, better known as delusional parasitosis, is a neuropsychiatric syndrome in which patients have the belief of suffering a parasitic disease, that can not be demonstrated after an exhaustive medical study. These patients are characterized by being polyconsultants in different medical specialties and, many of them, have antecedent...

The intestinal absorption of bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and dietary fat has been implicated in the development of metabolic endotoxemia. This study first compared the ability of polyphenol extracts from grape, cranberry, avocado and apple to interfere with pancreatic lipase and LPS in vitro. The grape extract displayed a higher inhibitory a...

Protein malnutrition can lead to morphological and functional changes in jejunum and ileum, affecting permeability to luminal contents. Regarding the large intestine, data is scarce, especially at juvenile age. We investigated whether low-protein (LP) diet could modify ileal and colonic permeability and epithelial morphology in young rats.Isocalori...

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a functional disorder of the gastrointestinal tract characterised by multi factorial aetiology. In IBS physiopathology are involved diverse factors between them biological, psychosocial, and environmental components which affect the immune activation status of gut mucosa. Among these factors is recognized the intes...

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a functional disorder of the gastrointestinal tract characterised by multi-factorial aetiology. In IBS physiopathology are involved diverse factors between them biological, psychosocial, and environmental components which affect the immune activation status of gut mucosa. Among these factors is recognized the intes...

Aim: In the present study, we examine the effects of copper oxide nanoparticles (CuNP) on macrophage immune response and the signaling pathways involved. Materials & methods: A peritonitis model was used to determine in vivo immune cells recruitment, while primary macrophages were used as an in vitro model for the cellular and molecular analysis...

Neisseria gonorrhoeae (Ngo) has developed multiple immune evasion mechanisms involving the innate and adaptive immune responses. Recent findings have reported that Ngo reduces the IL-1 β secretion of infected human monocyte-derived macrophages (MDM). Here, we investigate the role of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) in production and release of IL-1 β i...

The aim of this study was to determine the gastrointestinal protection by quercetin against indomethacin-induced oxidative stress and inflammation, with specific interest in studying the underlying molecular mechanisms. We hypothesized that the quercetin-protective effect relies on its antioxidant and antiinflammatory properties. Rats were pretreat...

Background: Subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) require an adequate glycemic control to avoid diabetic complications. Currently, saliva biomarkers are used as a diagnostic tool and can be indicative of the degree of progression and control of various diseases. Several studies indicate that α-2-macroglobulin levels are elevated in diabetic...

Levels of A2MG in saliva from parotid and sublingual gland were found to be significantly lower than whole saliva (p< 0.01) in both type 2 diabetic patients groups with adequate and inadequate glycemic control, representing at least 30% of A2MG levels detected in whole saliva (Figure S1).

Introducción: En el SII existe un desequilibrio en el eje cerebro-intestino que altera la interacción sistema nervioso e inmune, induciendo inflamación de bajo grado y aumento de la actividad intestinal mastocitaria. Los trastornos psicosociales se asocian a mayor sintomatología en SII. En Chile no existen estudios que evalúen la relación entre SII...

Progression of RNA interference-based gene silencing technologies for the treatment of disorders of the central nervous system (CNS) depends on the availability of efficient non-toxic nanocarriers. Despite advances in the field of nanotechnology undesired and non-specific interactions with different brain-cell types occur and are poorly investigate...

Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) is a type I pattern recognition receptor that has been shown to participate in intestinal homeostasis. Its increased expression in the lamina propria has been associated with the pathogenesis in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), such as ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD). Recently, soluble TLR2 (sTLR2) vari...

Possible association between Mycobacterium avium subsp paratuberculosis infection and Crohn's disease Paratuberculosis is a chronic intestinal disease of animals caused by Mycobacte-rium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP), which has some pathological features similar to Crohn's disease (CD) in humans. The presence of MAP in food for human consumpt...

Paratuberculosis is a chronic intestinal disease of animals caused by Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP), which has some pathological features similar to Crohn's disease (CD) in humans. The presence of MAP in food for human consumption and in affected tissues of patients with CD has been detected. Therefore, a causal association betw...

To correlate circulating soluble ST2 (sST2) levels with the severity of ulcerative colitis (UC) and serum levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, and to demonstrate the predictive power of sST2 levels for differentiation between active and inactive UC. We recruited 153 patients: 82 with UC, 26 with Crohn's disease (CD) and 43 disease controls [non-in...

ST2 has been proposed to be a regulator of inflammation and Th1/Th2 balance. ST2L is the IL-33 membrane receptor and belongs to the IL-1R family. The soluble variant, ST2s, is identical to the extracellular region of ST2L and competes for IL-33 binding, inhibiting receptor signaling. Although ST2s has been associated with inflammatory processes in...

Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) are multifactorial diseases with a genetic background. Recent results have shown that a non-synonymous, single nucleotide polymorphism (rs11209026, c.1142G>A, p.Arg381Gln) located in the IL-23R gene is associated with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The prevalence of IBD is rapidly rising in Chile...

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are inflammatory diseases with a multifactorial component that involve the intestinal tract. The two relevant IBD syndromes are Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). One factor involved in IBD development is a genetic predisposition, associated to NOD2/CARD15 and Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) polymorphism...

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are inflammatory diseases with a multifactorial component that involve the intestinal tract. The two relevant IBD syndromes are Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). One factor involved in IBD development is a genetic predisposition, associated to NOD2/CARD15 and Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) polymorphism...

Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) belong to the group of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), with complex ethiopathogenic factors that include an unbalanced immune and inflammatory response to commensal and food antigens. The differential diagnosis between CD and UC is performed using clinical, endoscopic, histopathological, serologic...

During an infection, one of the principal challenges for the host is to detect the pathogen and activate a rapid defensive response. The Toll-like family of receptors (TLRs), among other pattern recognition receptors (PRR), performs this detection process in vertebrate and invertebrate organisms. These type I transmembrane receptors identify microb...

This study is the first report of the development of monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) against gizzerosine (GZ), one of the causative agents of black vomit, a serious poultry disease. Balb/c mice were immunized with different GZ conjugates; the most immunogenic conjugate in experimental animals was determined by enzyme-linked immunoadsorbent assays (ELI...