Luis Fontana

University of Granada | UGR · Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology II

Previous works have described the activity of Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis CECT 7210 (also commercially named B. infantis IM-1®) against rotavirus in mice and intestinal pathogens in piglets, as well as its diarrhea-reducing effect on healthy term infants. In the present work, we focused on the intestinal immunomodulatory effects of B. in...

Background The purpose of this study was to investigate the inflammatory response, lipid peroxidation and muscle damage in men and women athletes subjected to an acute resistance exercise. Methods Twenty college athletes (10 men and 10 women) performed a half-squat exercise consisting of five incremental intensities: 20%, 40%, 60%, 80% and 100% of...

The neuronal apoptosis inhibitory protein (NAIP) is a constituent of the NLRC4 inflammasome, which plays a key role in innate immunity, and an antiapoptotic protein. Recently, we reported the previously undescribed role of NAIP in cell division. The liver is one of the body's most actively regenerative organs. Given the novel mitotic role of NAIP,...

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has reached pandemic proportions worldwide. We have previously reported that the probiotic strains Bifidobacterium breve CNCM I-4035, Lactobacillus paracasei CNCM I-4034 and Lactobacillus rhamnosus CNCM I-4036 exert anti-inflammatory effects in the intestine of Zucker-Lepr fa/fa rats. In this work, we focus...

Bench press (i.e. arm-based) and half-squat (i.e. leg-based) are exercises commonly used to increase and evaluate muscular strength. In addition to differences in the location of the muscles that participate in each exercise, the total muscle mass required for the latter is larger than that involved in the former. The aim of this study is to analyz...

Background Breast cancer ranks first in women, and is the second cause of death in this gender. In addition to genetics, the environment contributes to the development of the disease, although the factors involved are not well known. Among the latter is the influence of microorganisms and, therefore, attention is recently being paid to the mammary...

Specific microbial profiles and changes in intestinal microbiota have been widely demonstrated to be associated with the pathogenesis of a number of extra-intestinal (obesity and metabolic syndrome) and intestinal (inflammatory bowel disease) diseases as well as other metabolic disorders, such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and type 2 diabete...

Specific microbial profiles and changes in intestinal microbiota have been widely demonstrated to be associated with the pathogenesis of a number of extra-intestinal (obesity and metabolic syndrome) and intestinal (inflammatory bowel disease) diseases as well as other metabolic disorders, such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and type 2 diabete...

Background: Obesity is characterized by increased fat mass and is associated with the development of insulin resistance syndrome (IRS), usually known as metabolic syndrome. The alteration of the intestinal microbiota composition has a role in the development of IRS associated with obesity, and probiotics, which are live microorganisms that confer...

The microorganisms that live symbiotically in human beings are increasingly recognized as important players in health and disease. The largest collection of these microorganisms is found in the gastrointestinal tract. Microbial composition reflects both genetic and lifestyle variables of the host. This microbiota is in a dynamic balance with the ho...

Maternal milk contains compounds that may affect newborn immunity. Among these are a group of oligosaccharides that are synthesized in the mammary gland from lactose; these oligosaccharides have been termed human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs). The amount of HMOs present in human milk is greater than the amount of protein. In fact, HMOs are the third...

We investigated whether the administration of Lactobacillus paracasei CNCM I-4034, Bifidobacterium breve CNCM I-4035 and Lactobacillus rhamnosus CNCM I-4036 modulate the expression of genes in the intestinal mucosa of obese Zucker rats. Forty-eight Zucker-Leprfa/fa and 16 Zucker lean Lepr+/fa rats were used. Eight Zucker lean Lepr+/fa and 8 Zucker-...

Evaluation of muscular fatigue thresholds in athletes performing short-duration and explosive exercises is difficult due to the fact that classic parameters do not suffer large variations. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop a new method to estimate the fatigue threshold in single muscles. Our approach is based on electromyographic data...

We have previously reported that administration of Lactobacillus paracasei CNCM I-4034, Bifidobacterium breve CNCM I-4035 and Lactobacillus rhamnosus CNCM I-4036 to obese Zucker-Leprfa/fa rats attenuates liver steatosis and exerts anti-inflammatory effects. The goal of the present work was to investigate the modulation of gene expression in intesti...

Introduction: Current attempts to manipulate the gastrointestinal microbiota focus on finding remedies for several health disorders. Probiotics are consumed as treatments for various gastrointestinal tract dysfunctions. However, their actual ability to affect gut microbiota is still under debate Objectives: We investigated the effects of L. paracas...

The colon microbiota plays a crucial role in human gastrointestinal health. Current attempts to manipulate the colon microbiota composition are aimed at finding remedies for various diseases. We have recently described the immunomodulatory effects of three probiotic strains (Lactobacillus rhamnosus CNCM I-4036, Lactobacillus paracasei CNCM I-4034,...

Objectives and Study: Obesity is a chronic, complex and multifactorial disease that has reached pandemia levels and is becoming a serious health problem. Intestinal microbiota is considered a main factor that affects body weight and fat mass, which points toward a critical role in the development of obesity. In this sense, probiotic bacteria might...

The potential for the positive manipulation of the gut microbiome through the introduction of beneficial microbes, as also known as probiotics, is currently an active area of investigation. The FAO/WHO define probiotics as live microorganisms that confer a health benefit to the host when administered in adequate amounts. However, dead bacteria and...

Introduction: The intestinal microbiota is considered to play an important role in different aspects of human health. We investigated the changes that occurred in the gut microbiota of healthy adult volunteers fed the probiotic strains Lactobacillus paracasei CNCM I-4034, Bifidobacterium breve CNCM I-4035 or Lactobacillus rhamnosus CNCM I-4036 by p...

We have previously described the safety and immunomodulatory effects of Lactobacillus paracasei CNCM I-4034, Bifidobacterium breve CNCM I-4035 and Lactobacillus rhamnosus CNCM I-4036 in healthy volunteers. The scope of this work was to evaluate the effects of these probiotic strains on the hepatic steatosis of obese rats. We used the Zucker rat as...

We previously described the isolation and characterization of three probiotic strains from the feces of exclusively breast-fed newborn infants: Lactobacillus paracasei CNCM I-4034, Bifidobacterium breve CNCM I-4035 and Lactobacillus rhamnosus CNCM I-4036. These strains were shown to adhere to intestinal mucus in vitro, to be sensitive to antibiotic...

Probiotics are live microorganisms that, when ingested in adequate amounts, provide health benefits to the host. The strains most frequently used as probiotics include lactic acid bacteria and bifidobacteria, which are isolated from traditional fermented products and the gut, faeces and breast milk of human subjects. The identification of microorga...

Background and objectives: Probiotics are microorganisms that provide health benefits to the host when ingested in adequate amounts. We have described the identification and characterization of 3 novel bacterial strains (Lactobacillus pa-racasei CNCM I-4034, Bifidobacterium breve CNCM I-4035 and Lactobacillus rhamnosus CNCM I-4036), which were isol...

Recent investigations have demonstrated a complex interrelationship between autophagy and cell death. A common mechanism of cell death in liver injury is tumor necrosis factor (TNF) cytotoxicity. To better delineate the in vivo function of autophagy in cell death, we examined the role of autophagy in TNF-induced hepatic injury. Atg7Δhep mice with a...

Unlabelled: The prevalence of the metabolic syndrome and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in humans increases with age. It is unknown whether this association is secondary to the increased incidence of risk factors for NAFLD that occurs with aging, reflects the culmination of years of exposure to lifestyle factors such as a high-fat diet (...

Ideally, cell models should resemble the in vivo conditions; however, in most in vitro experimental models, epithelial cells are cultivated as monolayers, in which the establishment of functional epithelial features is not achieved. To overcome this problem, co-culture experiments with probiotics, dendritic cells and intestinal epithelial cells and...

Probiotics are live microorganisms that, when ingested in adequate amounts, provide health benefits to the host. The strains most frequently used as probiotics include lactic acid bacteria and bifidobacteria, which are isolated from traditional fermented products and the gut, faeces and breast milk of human subjects. The identification of microorga...

Lactobacillus paracasei CNCM I-4034 enhances the intestinal immune response in obese Zucker rats - Volume 72 Issue OCE1 - J. Plaza-Díaz, C. Gómez-Llorente, F. Abadía, M. J. Sáez-Lara, S. Muñoz-Quezada, L. Campaña-Martín, M. Bermúdez-Brito, M. Jiménez-Valera, A. Ruiz-Bravo, E. Matencio-Hilla, M. J. Bernal-Cava, A. Gil, L. Fontana

Our research group investigates whether human mononuclear cells isolated from umbilical cord blood (HUCBM cells) might be valuable in hepatic regenerative medicine. We recently demonstrated that HUCBM cell transplantation improves histological alterations and function of the liver in rats with acute liver damage induced by D-galactosamine. In the p...

Cord blood is an attractive cell source in regenerative medicine and represents an alternative to bone marrow. The aim of this study was to investigate whether human umbilical cord blood mononuclear (HUCBM) cells might be valuable in hepatic regenerative medicine. HUCBM cells differentiated in vitro into hepatocytes, as suggested by expression of a...

Liver fibrosis results from accumulation of extracellular matrix components and is associated with many chronic hepatic diseases. There is to date no specific therapy for this disease, and patients receive treatment for its associated complications. Specific progenitor cells, known as oval cells, are present in the liver. As oval cells express mark...

The term "conditionally essential" (or semi-essential), initially applied to amino acids, has been generalized to other nutrients. A conditionally essential nutrient is a compound usually produced in adequate amounts by endogenous synthesis but that is exogenously required under certain circumstances. Thus, arginine, glutamine, cysteine, glycine, c...

The term "conditionally essential" (or semi-essential), initially applied to amino acids, has been generalized to other nutrients. A conditionally essential nutrient is a compound usually produced in adequate amounts by endogenous synthesis but that is exogenously required under certain circumstances. Thus, arginine, glutamine, cysteine, glycine, c...

Unlabelled: Oral administration of 300 mg/l thioacetamide (TAA) for 4 months causes hepatic lesions comparable to those described in alcoholic liver cirrhosis in humans and associated protein-energy malnutrition. In this sense, direct supplementation with monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) and/or polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) might provide...

Exogenous nucleotides (NT) have been reported to exert a reparative role in animal models of intestinal and hepatic damage. Thus, the administration of NT in the diet of rats with thioacetamide-induced liver cirrhosis normalized many of the histological and biochemical alterations produced by this hepatotoxin. We are currently studying the mechanis...

Background & aims: We have previously reported the antifibrotic effect of dietary nucleotides in cirrhotic rats. In this work, we used primary rat hepatocytes, a liver stellate cell line (CFSC-2G) and co-cultures of both cell types to investigate the effects of exogenous nucleosides on the gene expression of various extracellular matrix components...

Dietary nucleotides are reported to influence the growth and functioning of the liver. The objective of the study was to evaluate the uptake and incorporation of exogenous nucleosides by hepatic cells, and the potential implications for cell proliferation and function. Liver stellate cell line CFSC-2G and primary hepatocytes in single and mixed cul...

Hepatic fibrosis is a common feature of many chronic liver diseases. Given the ethical considerations of studies with humans and the limited availability of liver biopsies, there is a need for in vitro models to understand the molecular events involved in hepatic fibrosis. The aim of this work was to compare the behavior of two hepatic cell types i...

The acute-phase response (APR) represents a systemic reaction of the organism to multiple nonspecific inflammatory stimuli. In general, it is protective for the host, and hepatocytes are the main cells responding with alterations in the expression of a set of liver-specific proteins named the acute-phase proteins. We have previously shown that alth...

Tumor necrosis factor (TNF-) is one of the key cytokines of the acute phase response and of many inflammatory processes. This cytokine has several antifibrogenic actions and down-regulates the expression of the type I collagen genes and induces the expression of metalloproteinases. Because TNF- directly antagonizes some fibrogenic actions of transf...

The deficiency of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) that occurs in plasma of patients with liver cirrhosis has been assessed in rats with severe steatosis and mild liver necrosis induced by repeated administration of low doses of carbon tetrachloride (CCl(4)). The contribution of both dietary (n-3) long-chain PUFA and nucleotides to the recovery o...

Oxidative stress plays a key role in liver fibrosis. Both inflammatory cells and activated Kupffer cells produce H2O2, an oxidant involved in the activation of hepatic stellate cells (HSC). Increased production of reactive oxygen intermediates (ROIs) in fibrotic livers is associated in part with the up-regulation of transforming growth factor beta...

Dietary nucleotides modulate a number of metabolic processes, including long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid metabolism. In this study, we evaluated the effect of dietary nucleotides on plasma and liver microsomal fatty acid profiles in a rat model of liver cirrhosis induced by oral intake of thioacetamide. Fifty-four female Wistar rats were assig...

To study the fibrogenic action of ethanol in vitro we used a co-culture system of freshly isolated hepatocytes and a liver stellate cell line (CFSC-2G) developed in our laboratory. Our results show that in this co-culture system ethanol induces the expression of alpha 1(I) procollagen mRNA in a dose- and time-dependent manner. This effect of ethano...

Intake of thioacetamide in drinking water causes liver cirrhosis in rats, which exhibit many changes similar to human disease. Nucleotides play an important part in major cellular functions, and recent studies suggest that dietary nucleotides may be considered 'semi-essential' nutrients in situations when an inadequate dietary supply may affect the...

To date, no attempt has been made to study alterations occurring in the amino acid profile in chronic models of thioacetamide-induced liver cirrhosis. In this work, changes in serum amino acids and proteins in rats with thioacetamide-induced liver cirrhosis are reported, together with changes in enzyme activities in the liver and serum. Seventeen f...

Patients with liver cirrhosis frequently show some degree of protein-energy malnutrition and obviously require nutritional support. In this study, the treatment of rats consisted of the ad libitum oral intake of a 300 mg/liter thioacetamide solution, used as drinking water for four months. Thioacetamide treatment produced a severe alteration in the...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the dietary supplementation with omega-3 and omega-6 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids on the fatty acid composition of plasma and red blood cell membranes in rats with thioacetamide-induced liver cirrhosis. Thirty-eight female Wistar rats were given 300 mg thioacetamide/L in drinking water for 4 months to...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the changes in fatty acid composition of lipids of plasma, erythrocytes, and liver microsomes in rats with liver cirrhosis induced by oral intake of thioacetamide and to determine to what extent the experimental model reproduces the fatty acid tissue alterations reported in human cirrhosis. Two groups of rats w...