Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

A rapid and simple ecotoxicological bioassay allows a reliable estimation of state of the lotic ecosystems from Camana, Majes and Colca watershed located in region Arequipa (Peru) in six sampling points (Taparza, Grande, Majes1, Majes2, Camana1 and Camana2) by studying growth inhibition of the microalga Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata at 24, 48 and 72 hours and Mean Effective Concentration (EC50), at 72 hours compared to National Environmental Quality Standards (EQSs) and water quality guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO). Observing that in the sampling points of Majes1 and Majes2 surpassed the values of thermotolerant coliforms, Aluminum, Manganese, Iron and Total Suspended Solids (TSS), compared to the values of EQSs and water quality guidelines of the WHO, with an EC50 in the Sampling stations of Majes1 and Majes2 categorizing them as moderately toxic. In this article, fluorescence confocal microscopy techniques were used to evaluate the impact of metals that exceeded the EQSs and WHO, proposing a model as the application of these microscopic techniques, opening wide perspectives, for future studies of metal ecotoxicity. 

Tropical fruits are known as healthy, guava and soursop, are considered as a source of phenolic compounds (PC), and are generally consumed fresh or in pulp. The beneficial effect attributed to fruit consumption is related not only to the amount, but rather to how much of these PC can be bioaccesible in the organism. Hence the aim of this study was to evaluate the bioaccesibility of PC of the guava and soursop pulp. During in vitro digestion process was observed that the highest release occurred during intestinal stage, which could be due to the partial release of PC associated with the cell wall material of the pulps. PC bioaccessibility values were 79.93% for guava and 83.91% for soursop, gallic and chlorogenic acids were mainly detected in both samples, although caffeic acid was detected only in soursop pulp. On the other hand, the release kinetics of PC from guava and soursop pulp shows a similar release rate in both, indicating that a large part of the PC present in these pulps are potentially bioaccessible and can be available to be absorbed by the small intestine. 

The capacity of biological membranes to compartmentalize various physiological processes such as signal transduction, vesicular traffic, among others, has led to the study of structures known as lipid rafts or membrane microdomains. These microdomains are made of specialized proteins and lipids, which have been widely described in a broad variety of eukaryotic cells. A feature of lipid rafts is the high degree of packaging of their components, which generates less fluidity with respect to the rest of the membrane. The most commonly used technique to characterize these microdomains is the generation of Detergent-Resistant Membranes (DRM), which takes advantage of the physico-chemical characteristics of lipid rafts, whose structural components are resistant to solubilization by detergents. SPFH-domain containing proteins (Stomatin, Prohibitin, Flotillin, HflK/C) are frequently found in DRM preparations and are commonly used as lipid rafts markers. Recently, the widely distribution of SPHF-containing proteins encoded in bacterial chromosomes, has directed our attention to the study of lipid raft-like microdomains in bacterial membranes. In this review, we present some recent advances on the identification and analysis of bacterial lipid raft-like membrane microdomains.

The antifungal activity of chitosan, essential oils (cinnamon and eucalyptus) and their combination were evaluated against two pathogens Colletotrichum acutatum and Colletotrichum gloeosporioides isolated from avocado (Persea americana Mill). Chitosan was used at different concentrations (0.1, 0.5 and 1.0%). The concentrations of essential oils evaluated were 0.1, 0.5 and 2.0% (eucalyptus and cinnamon). The effect of the combination of chitosan with the essential oils was evaluated using the most effective concentrations of chitosan (0.1 and 0.5%) and the essential oil with the highest inhibitory effect (2%).The treatments of chitosan and essential oils were partially effective against fungal development by inhibiting mycelial growth in a range of 17 to 21% and 18 to 50%, respectively. The mycelia growth of both strains was totally reduced by the application of chitosan (0.1%) with cinnamon essential oil (2%), however; the combination of chitosan with eucalyptus essential oil was not effective. To our knowledge this research is the first that reports chitosan resistant strains of Colletotrichum isolated from avocado fruits.

Los carbones activados (CA) son de gran interés debido a las excepcionales propiedades físicas y químicas que poseen, estos materiales se presentan en forma de gránulos o polvos, pero recientemente se ha comercializado una nueva forma de CA conocida como Fibra de Carbón Activado (FCA), que se puede fabricar en dos presentaciones, como tela y como fieltro. Las Telas de carbón activado (TCA) son materiales que poseen excelentes propiedades que las hacen superiores en comparación con las formas tradicionales y se producen a partir de precursores, mediante diversos procesos que incluyen activación física o química, entre los agentes impregnantes más utilizados se encuentran el KOH, H3PO4, ZnCl2, AlCl3, NH4Cl, Na2CO3 y K2CO3, cuya función principal es servir como deshidratantes impidiendo al mismo tiempo la producción de alquitranes. Las características y propiedades que adquieren las TCA dependen de la naturaleza del material que se utilizó para producirlas, estas características han sido aprovechadas en una gran cantidad de aplicaciones, como: medicina, sistemas de soporte de catalizadores, en la industria para la adsorción de contaminantes, purificación de aguas y tratamiento de aguas residuales, entre otras. Esta revisión muestra las generalidades y aplicaciones en estudios recientes y resume las aplicaciones de las TCA de las diferentes investigaciones realizadas, así como su proceso de obtención.