Maria Rosa Avila Costa | National Autonomus University of Mexico (original) (raw)

Papers by Maria Rosa Avila Costa

Neurotoxicity - New Advances [Working Title], 2021

Vanadium (V), a widely distributed transition metal, has been considered toxic, which depends on ... more Vanadium (V), a widely distributed transition metal, has been considered toxic, which depends on the valence of the compound. V pentoxide (V2O5) is considered the most harmful. Its long-term exposure produces neurotoxicity. Mice exposed to inhaled V2O5 displayed less tubulin+ in testicular cells and dendritic spines loss, cell death, and CA1 neuropil modifications, considered as the result of V interaction with the cytoskeleton, which made us suppose that V2O5 inhalation could initiate CA1 cell alterations comparable to what happen in the brains of Alzheimer disease (AD) patients. This study intends to demonstrate pyramidal CA1 cytoskeletal changes in rats which inhaled V2O5. Twenty rats were exposed to V2O5 0.02 M one hour, three times a week for several months. Our findings showed that V2O5-exposed rats had cell death that reached 56,57% after six months; we also observed collapsed strong argyrophilic nuclei and characteristic flame-shaped somas in all V2O5-exposed animals hippoca...

International Journal of Neuroscience, 2002

Ozone exposure increases the production of free radicals that causes oxidative stress (OS), a sta... more Ozone exposure increases the production of free radicals that causes oxidative stress (OS), a state that also occurs during aging and in neurodegenerative diseases. This study identified ultrastructural alterations produced by OS induced by acute ozone exposure in hippocampus and prefrontal cortex in aged compared with young rats. Animals were exposed to 0.70 ppm ozone for 4 h, and controls to flowing air. After the exposure, the tissues were processed for ultrastructural analysis. Results showed increased ultrastructural alterations in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex in the aged exposed animals compared with controls. OS enhanced the modifications induced by the aging process in those areas related with learning and memory functions, which are the first where degenerative aging changes are observed.

Parkinson’s Disease - Animal Models, Current Therapies and Clinical Trials [Working Title]

The knowledge about the biochemical and behavioral changes in humans with PD has allowed proposin... more The knowledge about the biochemical and behavioral changes in humans with PD has allowed proposing animal models for its study; however, the results obtained so far have been heterogeneous. Recently, we established a novel PD model in rodents by manganese chloride (MnCl2) and manganese acetate (Mn (OAc)3) mixture inhalation. After inhaling, the rodents presented bilateral loss of SNc dopaminergic neurons. Later, we conclude that the alterations are of dopamine origin since L-DOPA reverted the alterations. After six months, SNc significantly reduced the number of cells, and striatal dopamine content decreased by 71%. The animals had postural instability, action tremor, and akinesia; these symptoms improved with L-DOPA, providing evidence that Mn mixture inhalation induces comparable alterations that those in PD patients. Thus, this study aimed to compare the alterations in two different PD experimental models: 6-OHDA unilateral lesion and Mn mixture inhalation through open field test...

Melatonin - Recent Updates [Working Title], Jul 20, 2022

Frontiers in Medicine, 2021

Lung cancer incidence and mortality have significantly increased in women worldwide. Lung adenoca... more Lung cancer incidence and mortality have significantly increased in women worldwide. Lung adenocarcinoma is the most common form of lung cancer globally. This type of lung cancer shows differences by sex, including the mutational burden, behavior, clinical characteristics, and response to treatment. The effect of sex on lung cancer patients' survival is still controversial; however, lung adenocarcinoma is considered a different disease in women and men. Moreover, lung adenocarcinoma is strongly influenced by estrogen and is also different depending on the hormonal status of the patient. Young pre-menopausal women have been explored as an independent group. They presented in more advanced stages at diagnosis, exhibited more aggressive tumors, and showed poor survival compared to men and post-menopausal women, supporting the role of sex hormones in this pathology. Several reports indicate the estrogen's role in lung carcinogenesis and tumor progression. Thus, there are current...

Sex Hormones in Neurodegenerative Processes and Diseases, May 2, 2018

Análisis teórico y experimental en psicología y salud, 2015

Issues and Developments in Medicine and Medical Research Vol. 5, 2022

The present study examines the effects of divalent and trivalent Manganese (Mn2+</s... more The present study examines the effects of divalent and trivalent Manganese (Mn2+/Mn3+) mixture inhalation on mice to obtain a novel animal model of Parkinson disease (PD) inducing bilateral and progressive dopaminergic cell death, correlate those alterations with motor disturbances, and determine whether L-DOPA treatment improves the behavior, to ensure that the alterations are of dopaminergic origin. CD-1 male mice inhaled a mixture of Manganese chloride and Manganese acetate, one hour twice a week for five months. Before Mn exposure, animals were trained to perform motor function tests and were evaluated each week after the exposure. By the end of Mn exposure, 10 mice were orally treated with 7.5 mg/kg L-DOPA. After 5 months of Mn mixture inhalation, striatal dopamine content decreased 71%, the SNc showed important reduction in the number of TH-immunopositive neurons, mice developed akinesia, postural instability and action tremor; these motor alterations were reverted with L-DOPA treatment. Our data provide evidence that Mn2+/Mn3+ mixture inhalation produces similar morphological, neurochemical and behavioral alterations to those observed in PD providing a useful experimental model for the study of this neurodegenerative disease. Therefore, we consider that the inhalation of MnCl2/Mn(OAc)3 mixture could be an appropriate PD model.

Melatonin is a neurohormone associated with sleep cycles and free radical scavenger. Recently, it... more Melatonin is a neurohormone associated with sleep cycles and free radical scavenger. Recently, it has been shown to be effective in protecting the hippocampus under stress conditions, reducing cell damage and promoting better executions in memory tests. In this study, it was tested whether the daily consumption of 10 mg of melatonin could have favorable effects on memory and abstract thinking in adults who consumed alcohol. The participants were evaluated with the "Memory Span" and Wisconsin cards test, The results showed that exogenous melatonin consumption was associated with a significant improvement in cognitive functions, even when alcohol is consumed regularly Melatonin, alcoholism, memory, abstract thinking, hippocampus.

Pathogens, 2020

Amoebae of the genus Acanthamoeba are etiological agents of granulomatous amoebic encephalitis (G... more Amoebae of the genus Acanthamoeba are etiological agents of granulomatous amoebic encephalitis (GAE). Recently, through an in vivo GAE model, Acanthamoeba trophozoites were immunolocalized in contact with the peripheral nervous system (PNS) cells—Schwann cells (SC). In this study, we analyzed in greater detail the in vitro early morphological events (1, 2, 3, and 4 h) during the interaction of A. culbertsoni trophozoites (ATCC 30171) with SC from Rattus norvegicus (ATCC CRL-2941). Samples were processed for scanning and transmission electron microscopy as well as confocal microscopy. After 1 h of interaction, amoebae were observed to be adhered to the SC cultures, emitting sucker-like structures associated with micro-phagocytic channels. In addition, evidence of necrosis was identified since edematous organelles as well as multivesicular and multilamellar bodies characteristics of autophagy were detected. At 2 h, trophozoites migrated beneath the SC culture in which necrosis and aut...

Dopamine - Health and Disease, 2018

Parkinson's disease (PD) experimental models are crucial in the assessment of possible therapies.... more Parkinson's disease (PD) experimental models are crucial in the assessment of possible therapies. Nevertheless, even though PD was one of the first neurodegenerative conditions to be modeled, there are limitations such as spontaneous recovery; lack of bilateral damage, which is a PD characteristic; animal intensive care after neurotoxin administration; and ultrastructural and biochemical nonspecific alterations but mostly the neurodegenerative time course observed in humans. In this chapter, we investigated the effects of divalent and trivalent manganese inhalation on rats and mice to obtain a novel PD animal model inducing bilateral and progressive dopaminergic cell death. We found that after 5 or 6 months of inhalation, there was more than 70% decrease in the number of TH-immunopositive neurons, and these alterations are correlated with an evident motor performance deficits manifested as akinesia, postural instability, and action tremor. More interesting is the fact that these alterations were reverted with l-DOPA treatment, implying that the motor alterations are associated with nigrostriatal dopaminergic innervation, postulating new light for the understanding of manganese neurotoxicity as an appropriate PD experimental model. Our results are contributing to the development of a suitable PD animal model, reproducible, sensitive, time-efficient, and readily applicable behavioral tests.

Archivos De Neurociencias, 2000

Environmental Research, 2000

To determine the antioxidant effects of taurine on changes in memory and lipid peroxidation level... more To determine the antioxidant effects of taurine on changes in memory and lipid peroxidation levels in brain caused by exposure to ozone, we carried out two experiments. In the Arst experiment, 150 rats were separated into three experimental blocks (young, mature, and old) with Ave groups each and received one of the following treatments: control, taurine, ozone, taurine before ozone, and taurine after ozone. Ozone exposure was 0.7+0.8 ppm for 4 h and taurine was administered ip at 43 mg/kg, after or before ozone exposure. Subsequently, rats were tested in passive avoidance conditioning. In the second experiment, samples from frontal cortex, hippocampus, striatum, and cerebellum were obtained from 60 rats (young and old), using the same treatments with 1 ppm ozone. Results show both an impairment in short-term and long-term memory with ozone and an improvement with taurine after ozone exposure, depending on age. In contrast to young rats, old rats showed peroxidation in all control groups and an improvement in memory with taurine. When taurine was applied before ozone, we found high peroxidation levels in the frontal cortex of old rats and the hippocampus of young rats; in the striatum, peroxidation caused by ozone was blocked when taurine was applied either before or after ozone exposure.

... La Memoria. Definición, función y juego para la enseñanza de medicina. Información General. A... more ... La Memoria. Definición, función y juego para la enseñanza de medicina. Información General. Autores: Teresa Imelda Fortoul van der Goes, María Rosa Ávila Costa, Margarita Varela Ruiz; Editores: Editorial Médica Panamericana SA; Año de publicación: 2006; ...

… and Industrial Health, 2005

Vanadium is an important environmental and industrial pollutant whose concentrations have increas... more Vanadium is an important environmental and industrial pollutant whose concentrations have increased in the last decades. Due to its status as reproductive toxicant and a microtubule damaging agent, the present study investigated by immunohistochemistry the effect of the inhalation of vanadium pentoxide on gamma-tubulin within somatic and testicular germ cells. Male mice inhaled vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) (0.02 M) 1 h/twice a week for 12 weeks. Our results demonstrated that vanadium accumulates in the testes starting with the initial inhalation (24 h), and this pattern remained until the last week of treatment. In general, vanadium was capable of significantly decreasing the percentage of gamma-tubulin in all analyzed testicular cells (Sertoli, Leydig and germ cells) starting with the first week of treatment. For all cell types studied, regression analysis revealed a negative and significant relationship between the percentage of immunopositive cells to gamma-tubulin and exposure time, showing a time dependent response in all cases. Our findings suggest that alterations on this protein might imply changes in microtubule-involved function such as cell division, which in the testes might lead to damage in the spermatogenesis, leading probably to infertility.

Se analizaron los estilos de aprendizaje en estudiantes medicina y su relación con escuela de pro... more Se analizaron los estilos de aprendizaje en estudiantes medicina y su relación con escuela de procedencia, género, evaluación en una asignatura y el cambio de estilo. Predomino en estilo re.exivo y el menos prevalerte fue el activo. El teórico predominó en hombres y el pragmático en mujeres. Los estudiantes de las escuelas privadas fueron menos re.exivos que los de otras escuelas. No cambió el estilo de aprendizaje. No se apreció relación entre el aprovechamiento escolar y estilos predominantes. Las mujeres del CCH tuvieron el promedio más bajo en la asignatura evaluada y el más alto las mujeres de escuelas particulares.