Luis A Salazar

Universidad de La Frontera · Center of Molecular Biology and Pharmacogenetics

Neuroinflammation is a common event in degenerative diseases of the central and peripheral nervous system, triggered by alterations in the immune system or inflammatory cascade. The pathophysiology of these disorders is multifactorial, whereby the therapy available has low clinical efficacy. In this review, it has been postulated the relationship b...

Introduction In recent years, several studies have evidenced the importance of the microbiome to host physiology as metabolism regulator, along with its potential role in triggering various diseases. In this study, we analyzed the gut microbiota in hypercholesterolemic (cases) and normocholesterolemic (controls) individuals to identify characterist...

Cisplatin (CDDP) is the drug of choice against different types of cancer. However, tumor cells can acquire resistance to the damage caused by cisplatin, generating genetic and epigenetic changes that lead to the generation of resistance and the activation of intrinsic resistance mecha-nisms in cancer cells. Among them, we can find mutations, altern...

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by a tangle-shaped accumulation of beta-amyloid peptide fragments and Tau protein in brain neurons. The pathophysiological mechanism involves the presence of Aβ-amyloid peptide, Tau protein, oxidative stress, and an exacerbated neuro-inflammatory response. This review aims to off...

Circulating endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) play an important role in the repair processes of damaged vessels, favoring re-endothelization of stented vessels to minimize restenosis. EPCs number and function is diminished in patients with type 2 diabetes, a known risk factor for restenosis. Considering the impact of EPCs in vascular injury repai...

Cisplatin (cis-diamminedichloroplatinum (II), DDP) is an antineoplastic agent widely used in the treatment of solid tumors because of its extensive cytotoxic activity. However, the main limiting side effect of DDP use is nephrotoxicity, a rapid deterioration in kidney function due to toxic chemicals. Several studies have shown that epigenetic proce...

The particulate matter present in air pollution is a complex mixture of solid and liquid particles that vary in size, origin, and composition, among which are polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Although exposure to PAHs has become an important risk factor for cardiovascular dis-ease, the mechanisms by which these compounds contribute to incre...

Grape pomace is a source of anthocyanins which can prevent cardiovascular diseases due to their antioxidant properties. Anthocyanin activity is associated with the ability to regulate oxidative stress through the transcription factor Nrf2. Thus, the present study aimed to evaluate if the an-thocyanins found in Pinot noir pomace extract can affect t...

Farmed salmonids show alterations in bone structure that result in skeletal deformities during formation, repair, and regeneration processes, with loss of mineralization at the level of the axial skeleton, mainly the head and spine, affecting their quality of life and even causing death. Despite improving factors such as farming conditions, diets,...

In salmon farming systems, X-ray images are used to evaluate the spine and fins, but these do not allow quantifying the minerals that make up the bone, for different techniques that are destructive are used. Variable Pressure Scanning Electron Microscopy (VP SEM) coupled to an Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy detector (EDX), allows us to analyz...

The treatment of hypercholesterolemia is mainly based on statins. However, the response to pharmacological therapy shows high inter-individual variability, resulting in variable effects in both lipid lowering and risk reduction. Thus, a better understanding of the lipid-lowering mechanisms and response variability at the molecular level is required...

Cisplatin (DDP) is a well-known anticancer drug used for the treatment of numerous human cancers in solid organs, including bladder, breast, cervical, head and neck squamous cell, ovarian, among others. Its most important mode of action is the DNA-platinum adducts formation, inducing DNA damage response, silencing or activating several genes to ind...

Coronary in-stent restenosis is a late complication of angioplasty. It is a multifactorial process that involve vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs), endothelial cells, inflammatory and genetic factors. The transcriptomic landscape of VSMCs phenotypic switch process under stimuli resem-bling stent injury was assessed in this study. Co-cultured cont...

The genus Bulbophyllum is of scientific interest due to the phytochemical components and diverse biological activities found across species of the genus. Most Bulbophyllum species are epiphytic and located in habitats that range from subtropical dry forests to wet montane cloud forests. In many cultures, the genus Bulbophyllum has a religious, prot...

Although polyphenols have great pharmacological potential, the main disadvantage is that they have low bioavailability at the desired site. Thus, the use of biocompatible systems for drug de-livery is a strategy that is currently gaining great interest. The objective of this study is to evalu-ate the effect of microencapsulation on the antioxidant...

Contributing factors to major depressive disorder (MDD) onset are highly heterogeneous, hindering a precise understanding about its etiology and pathophysiology. Although epidemiological studies have established that depression heritability can get to approximately 40%, only a small number of transporters, neurotransmitters, and neurotrophin genes...

Fascioliasis is a widely distributed parasitic zoonosis caused by the trematode Fasciola hepatica that affects livestock production and generates high economic losses. In Chilean authorised abattoirs, the infected livestock livers are condemned during the veterinary inspection. This study aims to evaluate the prevalence of fascioliasis in Chile fro...

Autophagy is an intracellular mechanism that maintains cellular homeostasis in different tissues. This process declines in cartilage due to aging, which is correlated with osteoarthritis (OA), a multifactorial and degenerative joint disease. Several studies show that microRNAs regulate different steps of autophagy but only a few of them participate...

Abstract: The purpose of this systematic review was to map out and summarize scientific evidence on dysregulated microRNAs (miRNAs) that can be possible biomarkers or therapeutic targets for cisplatin nephrotoxicity and have already been tested in humans, animals, or cells. In addition, an in silico analysis of the two miRNAs found to be dysregulat...

Aim: miRNAs are potential biomarkers of several diseases. This review aimed to identify the miRNAs that could serve as biomarkers of COVID-19. Materials & methods: A literature search of nine databases was carried out for studies published before 13 June 2021 that described dysregulated miRNAs in cells or animals infected by SARS-CoV-2 or in patien...

Black Carbon (BC) is an important component of household air pollution (HAP) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), but levels and drivers of exposure are poorly understood. As part of the Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiological (PURE) study, we analyzed 48-hour BC measurements for 1187 individual and 2242 household samples from 88 commun...

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of High-intensity interval training (HIIT) on the quality of life in healthy young people (YNG) and older adults (OLD)and its correlation with physical health status (anthropometric parameters and lower limb functionality) YNG (21 ± 2 years, BMI 26.37 ± 2.69 n = 12) and OLD (67 ± 5 years, BMI 27.16...

Characterization of genetic variants are relevant to establish relationships between genetic background and susceptibility to develop cardiovascular diseases (CVD), which are the main cause of death in Chile. APOB, APOE and MTHFR polymorphisms have been associated with higher lipid levels and the risk of developing hypertension and cardiovascular d...

Daidzein is a phytoestrogen isoflavone found in soybeans and other legumes. The chemical composition of daidzein is analogous to mammalian estrogens, and it could be useful with a dual-directional purpose by substituting/hindering with estrogen and estrogen receptor (ER) complex. Hence, daidzein puts forth shielding effects against a great number o...

Cyperaceae are a plant family of grass-like monocots, comprising 5600 species with a cosmopolitan distribution in temperate and tropical regions. Phytochemically, Cyperus is one of the most promising health supplementing genera of the Cyperaceae family, housing ≈950 species, with Cyperus rotundus L. being the most reported species in pharmacologica...

Background: Polymorphisms in lipid metabolism-related genes have been associated with obesity and body composition, but these have been scarcely described concerning the magnitude of the response to exercise interventions in the overweight/obese population. Objective: To evaluate the association of PLIN1 (rs1052700 and rs2304795), LPL (rs283), ADRB...

Several studies show that statin therapy improves endothelial function by cholesterol-independent mechanisms called "pleiotropic effects". These are due to the inhibition of the RhoA/ROCKs kinases pathway, its inhibition being an attractive atheroprotective treatment. In addition, recent work has shown that microRNAs, post-transcriptional regulator...

Background: Human adaptive response to exercise interventions is often described as group average and standard deviation to represent the typical response for most individuals, but studies reporting individual responses to exercise show a wide range of responses. Objective: To characterize the physiological effects and inter-individual variability...

The genus Viburnum (Adoxaceae, Dipsacales) is of scientific interest due to the chemical components and diverse biological activities found across species of the genus, which includes more than 230 species of evergreen, semievergreen, or deciduous shrubs and small trees. Although frequently used as an ornament, the Viburnum species show biological...

Wogonin is a flavonoid found in different plants such as roots of Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi distributed mainly in Asia and Europe. Dried root extracts of S. baicalensis with high content of wogonin, popularly known as “Huang-Qin” or Chinese or baical skullcap, have been used for long time in traditional Chinese medicine. Several health benefit...

Cisplatin is an antineoplastic drug used for the treatment of many solid tumors. Among its various side effects, nephrotoxicity is the most detrimental. In recent years, epigenetic regulation has emerged as a modulatory mechanism of cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity, involving non-coding RNAs, DNA methylation and histone modifications. These epigene...

Evidence accumulated so far indicates that circulating levels of microRNAs (miRNAs) are associated with several pathologies. Therefore, differential expression of extracellular miRNAs exhibits promising potential for screening and diagnosis purposes. We evaluated plasma miRNAs in response to the lipid-lowering drug atorvastatin in patients with hyp...

Background Statins are potent cholesterol-lowering drugs that prevent cardiovascular events. microRNAs (miRNAs) modulate the expression of genes involved in metabolic pathways and cardiovascular functions post-transcriptionally. This study explored the effects of statins on the expression of miRNAs and their target genes involved in lipid metabolis...

The native flora of Chile has unique characteristics due to the geographical situation of the country, with the vast desert in the North, Patagonia in the South, the Andean Mountains on the east and the Pacific Ocean on the west. This exclusivity is reflected in high concentrations of phytochemicals in the fruits and leaves of its native plants. So...

Purpose Prior research has shown that running squats on unstable surfaces may be useful in increasing antagonist muscle and body center activity; nonetheless, the evidence for improved muscle strength-power is contradictory. In parallel, low-intensity strength training with partial blood flow restriction is effective in developing strength, hypertr...

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) are pollutants found in the air generated mainly by the combustion of coal or biomass burning. Exposure to Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons is positively correlated with cardiovascular diseases. Phenolic compounds are widely found in the plant kingdom, and their availability from agri-food processing waste ha...

Exposure to early life stress (ELS) represents a major risk factor for the development of psychiatric disorders, including depression. The susceptibility associated with ELS may result from persistent changes in gene transcription, which can occur through epigenetic mechanisms, such as DNA methylation, histone modifications, and microRNA expression...

Autophagy is a cellular mechanism that protect cells from stress by digesting non-functional cellular components. In the cartilage, chondrocytes depend on autophagy as principal mechanism to maintain cellular homeostasis. This protective role diminishes prior to the structural damage that normally occurs during aging. Considering that aging is the...

Atorvastatin is extensively used to treat hypercholesterolemia. However, the wide interindividual variability observed in response to this drug still needs further elucidation. Nowadays, the biology of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) is better understood, and some of these molecules have been related to cholesterol metabolism. Therefore, they could...

Early stages of atherosclerosis are characterized by the uptake of oxidate low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL) by inflammatory macrophages in the arteries, promoting the foam cell formation. Drimys winteri is a native tree of Chile that produces drimane sesquiterpenoids, here it was evaluated the inhibitory foam cell formation by the total extract of b...

The vascular endothelium is a continuous monolayer of endothelial cells that are in direct contact with the blood and its dysfunction is the starting process in the development of many pathological inflammatory disorders, such as atherosclerosis, which can result in death. The expression of adhesion molecules such as vascular cell adhesion molecule...

In-stent restenosis (ISR) is one of the main complications in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary angioplasty, and microRNAs participate in the contractile-to-synthetic phenotypic switch of vascular smooth muscle cells, a hallmark of restenosis development. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) can be released into circulation from injured tissues, enticing a p...

Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease, whose progression and stability are modulated, among other factors, by an innate and adaptive immune response. Prodiginines are bacterial secondary metabolites with antiproliferative and immunomodulatory activities; however, their effect on the progression or vulnerability of atheromatous plaque ha...

In-stent restenosis corresponds to the diameter reduction of coronary vessels following percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), an invasive procedure in which a stent is deployed into the coronary arteries, producing profuse neointimal hyperplasia. The reasons for this process to occur still lack a clear answer, which is partly why it remains as...

La angiogénesis es el proceso por el cual se forman nuevos vasos sanguíneos a partir de otros ya existentes. Para que esto se lleve a cabo de forma correcta debe existir un balance entre los factores proangiogénicos y los factores antiangiogénicos dentro del microambiente tisular. Por otra parte, la existencia de productos químicos naturales como l...

Background Hypercholesterolemia increases the risk of coronary artery disease and its pharmacological treatment has demonstrated, besides reducing cholesterol levels, a decrease in the incidence and mortality from coronary events. The treatment of hypercholesterolemia is mainly driven by using statins. However, the response to pharmacological thera...

Background: One of the main genetic factors that influence the muscular performance is the gene that encodes the structural protein α-actinin-3 (ACTN3). The R577X polymorphism (rs1815739) of ACTN3 has been associated with indicators of muscle and physical performance in athletes and general population, but this has been scarcely described in the La...

Background: Identification and characterization of genetic variants and their effects on human health may allow to establish relationships between genetic background and susceptibility to developing cardiovascular diseases. LDLR and PCSK9 polymorphisms have been associated with higher lipid levels and risk of cardiovascular diseases. Thus, the mai...

Several biological activities have been reported for the Chilean propolis, among their antimicrobial and antibiofilm properties, due to its high polyphenol content. In this study, we evaluate alternative methods to assess the effect of Chilean propolis on biofilm formation and metabolic activity of Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans), a major cariogen...

Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a progressive and multifactorial disease that is associated with aging. A number of changes occur in aged cartilage, such as increased oxidative stress, decreased markers of healthy cartilage, and alterations in the autophagy pathway. Propolis extracts contain a mixture of polyphenols and it has been proved that...

Propolis is widely recognized for its various therapeutic properties. These are attributed to its rich composition in polyphenols, which exhibit multiple biological properties (e.g., antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-angiogenic). Despite its multiple benefits, oral administration of polyphenols results in low bioavailability at the action site....

This chapter describes several aspects of statin treatment, going through a short outline from their discovery, lipid-lowering mechanism and the significant drawback represented by the diverging clinical response observed in patients undergoing statin therapy, showing that predisposing factors known to date e.g., genetic and non-genetic, do not ful...

Cisplatin (CDDP) is a highly effective antineoplastic agent, widely used in the treatment of various malignant tumors. However, its major problems are side effects associated to toxicity. Considerable inter-individual differences have been reported for CDDP-induced toxicity due to genetic and epigenetic factors. Genetic causes are well described; h...

Dental caries is multifactorial disease and an important health problem worldwide. Streptococcus mutans is considered as a major cariogenic agent in oral cavity. This bacteria can synthetize soluble and insoluble glucans from sucrose by glucosyltransferases enzymes and generate stable biofilm on the tooth surface. Biological properties of Chilean p...

Aim: Enterococcus faecalis has been associated with endodontic failure. It has the ability to resist the medication of root canals and to remain in a dormant state. This study aims to determine the association between the presence of E. faecalis and the endodontic diagnosis in devitalized teeth. Materials and Methods: This study evaluates the pres...

El entrenamiento de fuerza, especialmente con alta intensidad de carga, permite aumentar la fuerza y trofismo muscular, pero también se asocia a daño muscular inducido por ejercicio (DMIE). Una nueva modalidad de entrenamiento, combina una baja intensidad de carga con la restricción parcial del flujo sanguíneo (RPFS) alrededor del músculo, siendo p...

The raspberry weevil (Aegorhinus superciliosus) is a curculionid native of Chile and part of Argentina. This insect is considered to be a pest to both European hazel (Corylus avellana) and blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum) fruit plantations in south-central Chile and has caused considerable economic damage to the local fruit industry. The aim of thi...

Recent research in psychiatric genetics has led to a move away from simple diathesis-stress models to more complex models of psychopathology incorporating a focus on gene–environment interactions and epigenetics. Our increased understanding of the way biology encodes the impact of life events on organisms has also generated more sophisticated theor...

Purpose: As life expectancy increases, finding novel strategies that promote healthy aging becomes relevant. However, the latter depends very strongly on our understanding of basic changes that arise as a result of aging. One of the most detrimental outcomes of aging corresponds to osteoarthritis (OA), a disabling, complex and multifactorial joint...

Objective The aim of this study was to compare the global DNA methylation levels in patients under bruxism treatment and a control group. Methods Subjects undergoing bruxism treatment were classified in awake bruxism (42 patients), sleep bruxism (32 patients) and both conditions (42 patients). The control group included 42 individuals. A colorimet...