Vanesa Robles

Vanesa Robles
Spanish Institute of Ocenography, Santander, Spain

PhD

About

105
Publications
24,222
Reads
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3,620
Citations
Additional affiliations
August 2018 - November 2018
Spanish Institute of Ocenography, Santander, Spain
Position
  • Investigador Científico
January 2015 - July 2018
Instituto Español de Oceanografia
Position
  • Científico Titular de OPIs

Publications

Publications (105)
Article
Full-text available
With increasing evidence showing the connections between the microbiome, neurophysiology, and behavior, our research endeavors to investigate whether the consumption of a combination of two postbiotics with antioxidant effects can affect behavior regulation in model species. Here, we worked with a combination (1:1 ratio) of heat-treated Bifidobacte...
Article
Full-text available
The effects of stress during early vertebrate development can be especially harmful. Avoiding stressors in fish larvae is essential to ensure the health of adult fish and their reproductive performance and overall production. We examined the consequences of direct exposure to successive acute stressors during early development, including their effe...
Article
Full-text available
Aquaculture routine practices may cause stress induction on the fish and compromise their welfare affecting the production. This experiment aimed to evaluate the potential links between handling during culture with stress responses and growth on Senegalese sole (Solea senegalensis). We worked with two fish cohorts in terms of initial body weight an...
Article
Full-text available
Recent research has provided compelling evidence demonstrating that paternal exposure to different stressors can influence their offspring’s phenotypes. We hypothesized that paternal stress can negatively impact the progeny, altering different miRs and triggering different physiological alterations that could compromise offspring development. To in...
Article
Full-text available
Background Chronic stress can produce a severe negative impact on health not only in the exposed individuals but also in their offspring. Indeed, chronic stress may be contributing to the current worldwide scenario of increasing infertility and decreasing gamete quality in human populations. Here, we evaluate the effect of chronic stress on behavio...
Chapter
Primordial germ cell (PGC) preservation could allow the conservation of fish diploid genome of genetically valuable individuals, such as endangered species or species with reproductive dysfunctions, in contrast to the haploid genome of their gametes. Cryopreservation is the best technological tool for fish PGC storage. Moreover, after freezing/thaw...
Chapter
Primordial germ cells (PGCs) are unique cells in an embryo. These cells contain all genetic information and therefore represent the best source to store maternal and paternal genomes until embryo cryopreservation is achieved. However, the number of these cells in an embryo is very low limiting their potential application in cryopreservation and sur...
Chapter
Reactive oxygen species (ROS) could have a negative impact on sperm cellular function and viability. This chapter describes a protocol for oxidative stress evaluation using dichlorofluorescein (DCF) which can specifically reveal intracellular reactive oxygen species. The protocol described here has been used in human and teleost species sperm sampl...
Article
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of long term natural feeding in the subsequent reproductive status of 4 years old cultured Solea senegalensis, and to determine if the potential changes were structural or feeding dependent. To this aim, two different feeding regimes were used from one year after weaning and during the following 3 ye...
Article
Full-text available
There is increasing evidence that gut microbiome could have effects on neurological processes and on behavior. In this study we used the novel tank test (NTT) to analyze zebrafish exploring behavior after four months’ supplementation with probiotics with probed antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Results showed that prolonged ingestion of...
Article
Full-text available
The aim of the present experiment is to study the effects of oral ingestion of a mixture of two probiotic bacteria on sperm quality and progenies. Three homogeneous groups of juvenile zebrafish were created. Once having reached adulthood (3 months postfertilization; mpf), each group received different feeding regimens: a standard diet (control), a...
Article
Full-text available
Nowadays a decrease tendency in human sperm quality has been reported mainly in developed countries. Reproductive technologies have been very valuable in achieving successful pregnancies with low quality sperm samples. However, considering that spermatozoa molecular contribution is increasingly important in recent studies, it is crucial to study wh...
Article
Full-text available
Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) are crucial regulatory elements in most biological processes and reproduction is also controlled by them. The different types of ncRNAs, as well as the high complexity of these regulatory pathways, present a complex scenario; however, recent studies have shed some light on these questions, discovering the regulatory functio...
Article
Full-text available
Infertility is a medical concern worldwide and could also have economic consequences in farmed animals. Developing an efficient diet supplement with immediate effects on sperm quality is a promising tool for human reproduction and for domesticated animal species. This study aims at elucidating the effect of a short-time probiotic supplementation co...
Article
Full-text available
Senegalese sole (Solea senegalensis) is a species with a high commercial value that exhibits a reproductive dysfunction in males born and raised in captivity (F1) that hinders their sustainable culture. The present study evaluates the sperm quality and dopaminergic pathway of males born in the wild environment and of F1 males. Traditional sperm ana...
Article
Oxidative stress is one of the important factors in decreasing sperm quality. Developing efficient protocols for detecting reactive oxygen species (ROS) in spermatozoa is of high importance in any species, but these methods are rarely used and even less in teleost. Cryopreservation is a useful technique in aquaculture for different purposes, includ...
Article
The synthetic estrogen 17-α-ethinylestradiol (EE2), a major constituent in contraceptive pills, is an endocrine disrupting chemical (EDC) present in the aquatic environment at concentrations of ng/L. Developmental exposure to these low concentrations in fish can induce several disorders. Zebrafish (Danio rerio) is a perfect organism for monitoring...
Chapter
Cryopreservation is a well-established technique commonly used in clinical practice. It is used widely for the conservation of gametes and embryos that will be used later for insemination or in vitro fertilization. However, several studies have shown that this technique can produce changes in messenger RNA levels, in the epigenome and induce DNA da...
Article
The objective of this study is to analyse the effect of the ingestion of two selected antioxidant probiotics strains (Lactobacillus rhamnosus CECT8361 and Bifidobacterium longum CECT7347) on sperm quality parameters in asthenozoospermic males after three and six weeks of administration. Nine asthenozoospermic men without any medical treatment under...
Article
Reactive oxygen species have a great impact on spermatozoa function. Gametes from sole males born in captivity (F1) display lower quality than those from wild individuals. In this paper the percentage of positive cells for dichlorofluorescein (DCF+) was determined by flow cytometry in wild and F1 animals, the effect of cryopreservation on DCF+ cell...
Article
Full-text available
This review is focused on the applications of genome cryobanking of aquatic species including freshwater and marine fish, as well as invertebrates. It also reviews the latest advances in cryobanking of model species, widely used by the scientific community worldwide, because of their applications in several fields. The state of the art of cryoprese...
Article
Senegalese sole (Solea senegalensis) is a promising species in aquaculture. However, owing to decreased sperm quality in F1 generations and the absence of courtship in those individuals born in captivity, artificial fertilization is being used to generate new progenies. The objective of this study was to implement a sperm selection method for nonap...
Article
In this review we provide an overview of the components of the spermatozoa playing an important role in reproductive success beyond fertilization, showing the relationship between the integrity of the diverse elements and the development of a healthy offspring. The present knowledge about fish sperm chromatin organization, epigenetic modifications...
Article
This review provides a general view on teleost germline development using primordial germ cells (PGCs) or spermatogonia (SG), highlighting recent progress in research on these two cell types in teleost fishes. Due to the interest of these cells for gene banking purposes, this chapter also reviews the available protocols for cryopreservation and the...
Article
Bisphenol A (BPA) is an endocrine disruptor used in manufacturing of plastic devices, resulting in an ubiquitous presence in the environment linked to human infertility, obesity or cardiovascular diseases. Both transcriptome and epigenome modifications lie behind these disorders that might be inherited transgenerationally when affecting germline. T...
Article
Full-text available
The effects of a commercial probiotic diet supplement (Bactocell®), containing lactic acid bacteria Pediococcus acidilactici were evaluated by identifying five zebrafish (Danio rerio) sperm quality markers. P. acidilactici (106 colony-forming units per gram) was supplied to young zebrafish males (age 8 months) as a feed probiotic additive during a...
Article
Full-text available
Sperm chromatin in mammals is packaged in different blocks associated to protamines (PDNA), histones (HDNA), or nuclear matrix proteins. Differential packaging has been related to early or late transcription and also to differential susceptibility to genotoxic damage. Genes located in the more accessible HDNA could be more susceptible to injuries t...
Article
Full-text available
Zygotic repair of the paternal genome is a key event after fertilization. Spermatozoa accumulate DNA strand breaks during spermatogenesis and can suffer additional damage by different factors, including cryopreservation. Fertilization with DNA-damaged spermatozoa (DDS) is considered to promote implantation failures and abortions, but also long-term...
Article
The possibility of generating Primordial Germ Cells (PGCs) in vitro from non-committed embryonic cells represents an extremely useful tool in current research. PGC in vitro differentiation has been successfully reported in mammals. However, contrary to fish, PGC specification in mammals is an inductive mechanism. This study is the first to describe...
Presentation
Full-text available
Introduction: Sperm DNA is prone to suffer damage that could have a negative impact on the progeny development. Moreover genes packaged in different chromatin blocks or located in different nuclear areas, could have differential sensitivity to genotoxic agents. Our group has demonstrated that in rainbow trout, with the nucleus homogeneously compact...
Article
Sperm cryopreservation is widely used in clinic for insemination, in vitro fertilization and other procedures such as intracytoplasmic sperm injection. The assessment after freezing/thawing of spermatozoa viability, motility and sometimes DNA integrity (mainly using fragmentation assays) has been considered enough to guarantee the safety and effect...
Article
The possibility of using mRNA profile as a predictor of fertilization ability could be of great importance in aquaculture. Studies in mammals and other species have shown that mRNA profile may be used for gamete quality molecular diagnosis. Zebrafish is a well established model and the genetic tools available for this species make it the perfect bi...
Article
Cryopreservation is a common procedure for long-term storage of sperm in animal reproduction and is also employed in the aquaculture industry. The freezing–thawing process originates reactive oxygen species (ROS) which cause serious damage at chromatin level. Analyzing and characterizing this type of damage, especially in specific DNA regions, coul...
Article
Full-text available
Cryopreservation is an important tool routinely employed in Assisted Reproduction Technologies (ARTs) and germplasm banking. For several years, the assessment of global DNA fragmentation seemed to be enough to ensure the integrity of genetic material. However, cryopreservation can produce molecular alterations in key genes and transcripts undetecta...
Data
List of primers for DNA damage. Sequences start from 5´ to 3´. Annealing temperature and amplicon size is specified for each pair of primers. (TIF)
Data
List of primers for gene expression and for bisulphite sequencing. Sequences start from 5´ to 3´. Annealing temperature and the species are specified for each pair of primers. (TIF)
Data
actb2 Ct values means in fresh and cryopreserved genital ridges (GRs) from 26 somite zebrafish embryos. Ct values mean ± SE of three independent experiments with three replicates for each. Ct values remained unaffected by cryopreservation. (TIF)
Data
Summary of gene abbreviations, gene complete names and gene functions in zebrafish primordial germ cells (PGCs) and in human sperm. (TIF)
Data
Sequences, amplicon size and number of GpCs islands of the analyzed genes from Figure 4. Underlined CG corresponds with the analyzed CpG islands in the zebrafish genes studied before and after cryopreservation (cxcr4b -240 bp-, pou5f1 -255 bp-, sox 3-274 bp- and vasa -156 bp-). (TIF)
Article
During recent years, several studies have pointed out the importance of key paternal transcripts in early embryo development. Sperm cryopreservation is commonly applied in assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) and it is important to know if it produces any relevant effect at this level. In this study, using normozoospermic donors, we present a...
Patent
Full-text available
The present invention claims a method for long-term preservation of cephalopod sperm by means of the cryopreservation of the spermatophores and spermatangia thereof. Cryopreservation is obtained by means of the use of optimum protocols for incorporation and elimination of permeable cryoprotectants (alcohols,sulphoxides and formamides in aqueous sol...
Article
Cephalopod culture is expected to increase in the near future and sperm cryopreservation would be a valuable tool to guarantee sperm availability throughout the year and to improve artificial insemination programs. We have studied the tolerance of spermatophores from the oceanic squid Illex coindetii to several cryoprotectants, in two toxicity expe...
Article
Full-text available
Flow cytometry allows the assessment of multiple sperm parameters following a diverse number of protocols. Here, we describe three methods for evaluating critical aspects of sperm quality: the double stain SYBR-14 and propidium iodide (PI) for assessing sperm viability; the double stain PNA-FITC (peanut agglutinin-fluorescein isothiocyanate) and PI...
Article
Cryopreservation of Primordial Germ Cells (PGCs) for gene banking in fish is very promising considering the limitations that exist in fish embryo. Via germ line chimerism, these cells allow surrogate production in teleost fish. However, cryopreservation involves a range of extreme factors that might be stressful to cells. Moreover, Reactive Oxygen...
Article
Full-text available
Cryopreservation of primordial germ cells (PGCs) is a better alternative for the conservation of the diploid genome in fish until embryo cryopreservation is achieved. A good cryopreservation protocol must guarantee high survival rates but also absence of genetic damage. In this study, a cell toxicity test using several internal and external cryopro...
Article
Full-text available
Targeted genomic manipulation using embryonic stem (ES) cells has not yet been achieved in zebrafish, although methods for zebrafish ES cell culture has been described in literature. The knowledge of pluripotency markers in this species is almost nonexistent and this is a very limiting factor in the definition of the ideal culture conditions for ES...
Article
Cryopreservation is of interest not only for fish farming but also for the conservation and genetic improvement of resources. This technique has been well established in some freshwater fish species mainly, salmonid, sturgeons and carps, however, only in the last decade research was focused in marine fish species. The benefits of sperm cryopreserva...
Article
Full-text available
Dedifferentiation occurs naturally in mature cell types during epimorphic regeneration in fish and some amphibians. Dedifferentiation also occurs in the induction of pluripotent stem cells when a set of transcription factors (Oct4, Sox2, Klf4 and c-Myc) is over expressed in mature cell types. We hypothesised that there are parallels between dediffe...
Data
Figure S2: Cell divisions in non- regenerating and regenerating fin. Immunohistochemistry of phospho-Histone H3 localization in zebrafish fins: 0 hours (A) and 48 hours (B) post amputation.
Data
Figure S1: Statistical relevance of changes in expression levels. Effect sizes (mean ± error) for each regeneration time point on the intercept, for zebrafish pluripotency associated makers and blastema markers. Oblong stage (for pluripotency markers) and 48 hpa (for blastema markers) were the intercept of the models. Asterisks represent statistica...
Article
During the last few years zebrafish and other aquarium fish have become more important model system species. In zebrafish valuable biotechnological lines are constantly emerging, and the creation of cryobanks of viable fish sperm, oocytes, and embryos from those lines is a constant and important demand. Cryopreservation is an essential tool for sto...
Article
Fish embryo cryopreservation, which is useful in aquaculture or biodiversity conservation, is still far from being achieved. Structural barriers reduce the entrance of cryoprotectants into embryo compartments. Previous studies demonstrated a better ability for freezing in Arctic species which naturally express antifreeze proteins (AFPs). In this st...
Article
The Industry of Aquaculture has been profiting from fish sperm cryopreservation for many years. Sperm from more than two hundred fish species, most of them with commercial value, has been cryopreserved, allowing year round availability of sperm and the creation of sperm banks from those individuals with special interest. However, to date, fish embr...
Article
The cryopreservation of fish embryos is a challenge because of their structure, with multiple compartments and permeability barriers, and their high chilling sensitivity. Vitrification at advanced developmental stages is considered to be the more promising option. Nevertheless, all reported attempts have failed. Previous studies demonstrated a bett...
Article
Cryopreservation of fish embryos is a very interesting technology for the management of fish reproduction in aquaculture, as well as for the creation of gene banks useful as gene repositories in genetic selection or biodiversity conservation programmes. In spite of the efforts developed, survival after freezing has never been achieved, mainly for t...
Article
Non-invasive manipulation of multicellular systems is important for medical and biological research. The ability to introduce, remove, or modify molecules in the intracellular environment is pivotal to our understanding of cellular structure and function. Herein, we report on an alternative method for introducing foreign material into developing em...
Article
A major challenge to the widespread production of transgenic, knockout and knockdown zebrafish has been the absence of a simple and effective procedure for introducing macromolecules into the fertilized egg. None of the existing techniques for gene transfer in fish embryos has proven to be a major advance over cytoplasm microinjection, which is a t...