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Biomedical subjects

N Aguilera

Publications and source records attributed to N Aguilera.

15 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2003

Intrinsic defects explain altered proliferative responses of T lymphocytes and HVS-derived T-cell lines in gastric adenocarcinoma.

We have taken advantage of a recently described technique of transformation and immortalization of T lymphocytes using the lymphotropic Herpesvirus saimiri, to achieve long-lasting T-cell lines from gastric cancer patients and healthy volunteers. Blood samples were drawn and T lymphocytes were transformed. Once sustained growth was observed, lines were subjected to phenotypic and functional analyses, and the results compared with freshly isolated peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Cytofluorometric analysis revealed that CD3 and CD45 were found at lower proportion in primary cells from patients than from control individuals (54% vs 75%, p<0.001, 90% vs 96%, p<0.05, respectively), and in HVS-derived T-cell lines (90% vs 98%, p<0.05, 97% vs 100%, p<0.05, respectively). Proliferative analyses showed that primary isolated cells were unable to respond adequately to CD3-, CD2-, and PHA-mediated stimulation, as compared to controls. Similarly, T-cell lines from patients proliferated to a lesser extent when CD3- and CD2-mediated stimuli were considered, especially when simultaneous stimulation via CD3 and CD2 molecules was carried out (47,824 counts per minute [cpm] vs 121,478 cpm, p<0.05). Altogether these results show that the defects reported in T cells from patients with cancer are not exclusively due to tumour-derived factors, since the alterations persist in long-lasting, HVS-transformed, T-cell lines, suggesting that this model seems a suitable one to disclose them.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed2001

Cell surface phenotype and cytokine secretion in Caco-2 cell cultures: increased RANTES production and IL-2 transcription upon stimulation with IL-1beta.

Caco-2 is a colonic tumour cell line which, when cultured, spontaneously exhibits enterocyte-like characteristics. Given the difficulties in maintaining long-lasting cultures of enterocytes, this cell line may be a suitable in vitro model to carry out experiments trying to delineate the involvement of enterocytes in local immune responses, and their role in pathology. It seems then reasonable to obtain a detailed immune analysis of Caco-2, and compare it with available data on enterocytes. Cytofluorometry revealed several leukocyte markers on Caco-2, present also on human enterocytes. These markers include surface proteases (CD10, CD13 and CD26), antigen-presenting cell markers (CD13, CD14, CD35 and CD63), integrins (CD18 and CD61), epithelial/endothelial markers (CD21, CD31, CD47 and CD59) and finally, CD25 and CD28. In contrast to enterocytes, HLA-class 11 molecules are not found on Caco-2, whether resting or gamma-IFN-stimulated. Moreover, culture experiments with allogeneic lymphocytes revealed that Caco-2 cells were unable to induce their proliferation. Cytokine analysis showed an increased RANTES synthesis and IL-2 transcription upon stimulation with IL-1beta. Finally, amongst RANTES receptors, CCR1 is found on Caco-2 cells, whereas CCR3 and CCR5 are not.

Antigen-Presenting Cells↗
PubMed2000

New antineoplastic prenylhydroquinones. Synthesis and evaluation.

Several prenylhydroquinones have been prepared through Diels-Alder condensation, further functionalized or degraded chemically and then evaluated for their cytotoxic activity against some neoplastic cultured cell lines. A number of them have shown IC50 values under the microM level.

Antineoplastic Agents↗
PubMed1991

Specific respiratory patterns distinguish among human basic emotions.

Prototypical respiratory-facial-postural actions ('emotional effector patterns') related to six basic emotions had been extracted from an ensemble of physiological reactions present in subjects reliving intense emotional situations (Bloch & Santibañez, 1972). Subjects reproducing these actions could evoke the corresponding subjective experience, which suggested their use as an experimental model for generating controlled emotional states. The aim of the present study was to quantify the respiratory parameters which characterize the emotions of joy-laughter, sadness-crying, fear-anxiety, anger, erotic love and tenderness. Respiratory movements and facial/postural expressions were recorded from 36 young actors who had learned in previous workshops to express these emotions by reproducing the corresponding prototypical actions. A qualitative analysis of the recordings showed that as the emotional reproduction went along, both breathing and expression evolved from an initial 'robot-like' phase to a more natural stage in which spontaneous vocalizations and gestures appeared. This suggested a partial activation of the emotional network. The quantitative analysis of the respiratory movements for the fundamental cycles showed that for anger, erotic love and tenderness significant changes in amplitude, rate and duration of the 'expiratory pause' were the major elements of differentiation, while for sadness, joy and fear inspiratory over expiratory time ratios were the elements of differentiation. These last three emotions were further characterized by small amplitude/high rate saccadic respiratory movements superposed to different phases of the fundamental cycles. It is concluded that quantitatively well differentiated sets of respiratory changes characterize each of six basic emotions. The bottom-up experimental model for generating such emotions based on the joint activation of the respiratory-facial-postural systems and its relation to corresponding 'real-life' emotions is discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

Extraversion and inhibition: a slow-potential study.

This report presents data showing that extroverts (Eysenck Personality Inventory) develop larger positive vertex slow potentials than introverts under extinction conditions ("no go" instruction in a fixed foreperiod reaction time task). The effect was clearer in subjects with low neuroticism (N) scores than in those with a middle N level. Since independent evidence indicates that cortical positivity is associated with inhibitory phenomena, results are interpreted as lending support to the notion that extroverts may develop more inhibitory potential than introverts under certain conditions.

Adult↗
PubMed1976

An electrophysiological investigation of skeletal muscles in polymyositis.

An electrophysiological study has been made of the extensor digitorum brevis, thenar and hypothenar muscles in 25 patients with chronic and acute polymyositis. It was found a reduction of the number of functioning motor units in some patients with chronic polymyositis and only in one of those affected by acute polymyositis and only in one of those affected by acute polymyositis. The sizes of the surviving units suggested that the results could be explained in terms of a primary muscle involvement mainly in acute polymyositis, while in chronic polymyositis a combination of primary and neurogenic involvement of muscle fibers might take place.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1973

Functional changes in motoneurones of hemiparetic patients.

Forty-six patients have been studied after upper motor neurone lesions of cerebrovascular origin. The numbers of functioning motor units in extensor digitorum brevis muscles were reduced to approximately half between the second and sixth months after a hemiplegic episode. The surviving motor units tended to have slow twitches and appeared to increase their sizes after the lesions had been present for about 20 months. The findings are explained on the basis of transsynaptic changes in alpha-motoneurones after degeneration of corticospinal fibres.

Action Potentials↗