Paola Ferrero

National University of La Plata | UNLP · Centro de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CIC)

Background Chagas cardiomyopathy (CHCM) is the most important clinical manifestation of Chagas disease. The analysis of cardiac miRNAs may contribute to predicting the progression to CHCM in Chagas indeterminate phase and/or to the differential diagnosis for cardiomyopathy. Methods We carried out a case-control study to identify circulating miRNAs...

Background In animals, the endocannabinoid system regulates multiple physiological functions. Like humans, animals respond to preparations containing phytocannabinoids for treating several conditions. In Argentina, laws 27350 and 27669 have expanded the possibility of studying beneficial and adverse effects. Materials and methods We conducted a we...

Muscle contraction depends on strictly controlled Ca²⁺ transients within myocytes. A major player maintaining these transients is the sarcoplasmic/endoplasmic reticulum Ca²⁺ ATPase, SERCA. Activity of SERCA is regulated by binding of micropeptides and impaired expression or function of these peptides results in cardiomyopathy. To date, it is not kn...

Appropriate cardiac performance depends on a tightly controlled handling of Ca²⁺ in a broad range of species, from invertebrates to mammals. The role of the Ca²⁺ ATPase, SERCA, in Ca²⁺ handling is pivotal, and its activity is regulated, inter alia, by interacting with distinct proteins. Herein, we give evidence that 4E binding protein (4E-BP) is a...

Drosophila melanogaster has been used to test drugs of abuse, substances with potential benefits for medical purposes, as well as contaminants and hazardous volatile compounds. This model has also been used for the characterization of behavioral changes, physiopathological consequences, and subcellular mechanisms of the use of cocaine, methamphetam...

Thermotolerance is a complex trait that can greatly differ between heat-susceptible (HS) and heat-adapted populations of small insects including Drosophila, with short-term effects after a sub-lethal level of heat stress on many physiological functions. Cardiac performance could accordingly be more robust in heat-resistant (HR) than in HS individua...

Studies about the relationship between substances consumed by humans and their impact on health, in animal models, have been a challenge due to differences between species in the animal kingdom. However, the homology of certain genes has allowed extrapolation of certain knowledge obtained in animals. Drosophila melanogaster , studied for decades, h...

We investigated the effect of inhalation of vaporized marijuana on cardiac function in Drosophila melanogaster, a suitable genetic model for studying human diseases. Adult flies were exposed to marijuana for variable time periods and the effects on cardiac function were studied. Short treatment protocol incremented heart-rate variability. Contracti...

Medical uses of marijuana have been recently approved in many countries, and after a long ban on research, there is despicable scientific evidence regarding its action and side effects. We investigated the effect of inhalation of vaporized marijuana on cardiac function in Drosophila melanogaster , a suitable genetic model for assessing cardiovascul...

The Bowditch effect or staircase phenomenon is the increment or reduction of contractile force when heart rate increases, defined as either a positive or negative staircase. The healthy and failing human heart both show positive or negative staircase, respectively, but the causes of these distinct cardiac responses are unclear. Different experiment...

Background: The need to work with model organisms in medical research has revealed the usefulness of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, considering its advantages to perform classic genetic studies and modern techniques of genome edition. Several human genes are similar to those of the fruit fly. We have developed for the first time in the coun...

The functional properties of inositol(1,4,5)-triphosphate (IP3) receptors allow a variety of intracellular Ca2+ phenomena. In this way, global phenomena, such as propagating and abortive Ca2+ waves, as well as local events such as puffs, have been observed. Several experimental studies suggest that many features of global phenomena (e.g., frequency...

Aging is associated to disrupted contractility and rhythmicity, among other cardiovascular alterations. Drosophila melanogaster shows a pattern of aging similar to human beings and recapitulates the arrhythmogenic conditions found in the human heart. Moreover, the kinase CaMKII has been characterized as an important regulator of heart function and...

Gene therapy is a treatment that offers an alternative to pharmacological, surgical and conventional approaches that is being developed at an experimental and clinical level. In this review, apart from mentioning advances and presenting an overview of the subject in the biomedical field, our intention is to extend the concept of DNA. DNA is the sto...

Gene therapy is a treatment that offers an alternative to pharmacological, surgical and conventional approaches that is being developed at an experimental and clinical level. In this review, apart from mentioning advances and presenting an overview of the subject in the biomedical field, our intention is to extend the concept of DNA. DNA is the sto...

The life of an mRNA from transcription to degradation offers multiple control check points that regulate gene expression. Transcription, splicing, and translation have been widely studied for many years; however, in recent years, new layers of posttranscriptional and posttranslational control have been uncovered. They involve the regulation of the...

Eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4E (eIF4E) is required for cap-dependent initiation. In addition, eIF4E occurs in cytoplasmic foci such as processing bodies (PB) and stress granules (SG). We examined the role of key functional amino acid residues of eIF4E in the recruitment of this protein to cytoplasmic foci. We demonstrate that tryptopha...

We aimed to define the relative contribution of both PKA and Ca(2+)/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) cascades to the phosphorylation of RyR2 and the activity of the channel during beta-adrenergic receptor (betaAR) stimulation. Rat hearts were perfused with increasing concentrations of the beta-agonist isoproterenol in the absence and...

To assess the time course of phosphorylation of phospholamban residues, the underlying mechanisms determining these phosphorylations, and their functional impact on the mechanical recovery during acidosis. Langendorff perfused rat hearts were submitted to 30 min of hypercapnic acidosis. Contractility, relaxation, and phosphorylation of phospholamba...

An increase in stimulation frequency causes an acceleration of myocardial relaxation (FDAR). Several mechanisms have been postulated to explain this effect, among which is the Ca(2+)-calmodulin-dependent protein kinase (CaMKII)-dependent phosphorylation of the Thr(17) site of phospholamban (PLN). To gain further insights into the mechanisms of FDAR...

Phosphorylation of phospholamban (PLB) at Ser16 (protein kinase A site) and at Thr17 [Ca2+/calmodulin kinase II (CaMKII) site] increases sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ uptake and myocardial contractility and relaxation. In perfused rat hearts submitted to ischemia-reperfusion, we previously showed an ischemia-induced Ser16 phosphorylation that was dep...

The status of phospholamban (PLB) phosphorylation in the ischemia-reperfused hearts remains controversial. Although a decrease in the phosphorylation of both PLB residues (Ser16, PKA site, and Thr17, CaMKII site) was previously reported, experiments from our laboratory failed to detect this decrease. In an attempt to elucidate the cause for this di...

Phospholamban (PLB) is a sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) protein that in the dephosphorylated state, tonically inhibits the SR Ca2+ pump. Phosphorylation of PLB relieves this inhibition. PLB can be phosphorylated in vivo by cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) at Ser16 and Ca2+-calmodulin-dependent protein kinase (CaMKII) at Thr17. Because the SR dysfun...

Sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) dysfunction is one of the multiple alterations that occurs in ischemia-reperfused hearts. Because SR function is regulated by phosphorylation of phospholamban (PLB), a SR protein phosphorylated by cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) at Ser(16)and Ca(2+)-calmodulin-dependent protein kinase (CaMKII) at Thr(17), the phospho...