María Jesús Núñez-Iglesias

Effects of amphetamine on cell mediated immune response in mice

Mice injected with amphetamine showed a dose-related suppression of the natural killer cell activity. The capacity of T-cells to generate cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTL) in mixed lymphocyte cultures and in vivo was also assayed and amphetamine was found to inhibit CTL responses.

Effects of buspirone on the immune response to stress in mice.

Several experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of buspirone, a selective 5-hydroxytryptamine-1A (5-HT1A) anxiolytic, on the immune system of mice exposed to a chronic auditory stressor. Daily injection with 0.5 and 1 mg/kg (intraperitoneally) of buspirone resulted in a dose-dependent reduction in the stress-induced suppression of the natural killer (NK) cell activity and the in vitro and in vivo activity of phagocytosis. Higher doses of buspirone (2.0 mg/kg) showed less robust immunoenhancing effects in stressed mice, and caused a significant suppression of these immune parameters in unstressed mice.

Effects of Brassicaceae Isothiocyanates on Prostate Cancer

Despite the major progress made in the field of cancer biology, cancer is still one of the leading causes of mortality, and prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most encountered malignancies among men. The effective management of this disease requires developing better anticancer agents with greater efficacy and fewer side effects. Nature is a large source for the development of chemotherapeutic agents, with more than 50% of current anticancer drugs being of natural origin. Isothiocyanates (ITCs) are degradation products from glucosinolates that are present in members of the family Brassicaceae. Although they are known for a variety of therapeutic effects, including antioxidant, immunostimulatory, anti-inflammatory, antiviral and antibacterial properties, nowadays, cell line and animal studies have additionally indicated the chemopreventive action without causing toxic side effects of ITCs. In this way, they can induce cell cycle arrest, activate apoptosis pathways, increase the sensitivity of resistant PCa to available chemodrugs, modulate epigenetic changes and downregulate activated signaling pathways, resulting in the inhibition of cell proliferation, progression and invasion-metastasis. The present review summarizes the chemopreventive role of ITCs with a particular emphasis on specific molecular targets and epigenetic alterations in in vitro and in vivo cancer animal models.

Inhibitory effects of alprazolam on the development of acute experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis in stressed rats.

The progression and development of multiple sclerosis (MS) has long been hypothesized to be associated with stress. Benzodiazepines have been observed to reduce negative consequences of stress on the immune system in experimental and clinical models, but there are no data on their effects on MS, or experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), a model for human MS. We designed experiments conducted to ascertain whether alprazolam could modify the clinical, histological and neuroendocrine manifestations of acute EAE in Lewis rats exposed to a chronic auditory stressor. EAE was induced by injection of an emulsion of MBP and complete Freunds adjuvant containing Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Ra. Stress application and treatment with drugs (placebo or alprazolam) were initiated 5days before inoculation and continued daily for the duration of the experiment (days 14 or 34 postinoculation).Our results show significant increases in the severity of neurological signs, the histological lesions of the spinal cord (inflammation), and the corticosterone plasmatic levels in stressed rats compared to those non-stressed ones. Treatment with alprazolam reversed the adverse effects of stress. These findings could have clinical implications in patients suffering from MS treated with benzodiazepines, so besides the psychopharmacological properties of alprazolam against stress, it has beneficial consequences on EAE.

Adenosine Signaling Pathways as Potential Therapeutic Targets in Prostate Cancer Disease

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the second main cause of death by cancer in men. Although most PCa are initially responsive to treatment, they are difficult to manage clinically after their progression to a hormone independent state. During the last years different approaches to treating PCa have been assessed based mainly on specific targets such as adenosine receptors (AR), since it is known that their activation can modulate tumour growth. This chapter is intended to: (a) review evidences on expression levels of AR subtypes in PCa cells; (b) highlight the molecular mechanisms underlying the regulation of AR functioning during growth, apoptosis, invasion, migration, and/or metastasis of PCa cells; (c) analyse the potential application of AR ligands in oncologic treatment of PCa. The critical analysis of herein highlighted evidences shows that especially A3 AR agonists and to a lesser extent A2b AR antagonists, could be useful clinically in controlling the proliferation and metastasis of hormone sensitive and refractory PCa.

Effects of Anxiolytic Drugs in Animal Models of Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory demyelinating and neurodegenerative disease of the central nervous system (CNS), affecting more than 2 million people worldwide (Hirtz et al., 2007; McQualter & Bernard, 2007; Sospedra & Martin, 2005). Although it has been described for over two hundred years, it is not well characterized and no cure exists (Hirtz et al., 2007; McQualter & Bernard, 2007). For this reason, nowadays there is still considerable interest in the investigation of the pathogenesis of this disease, the improvement of diagnosis, the assessment of prognosis, and the discovery of new therapeutic agents.