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Research lines
The group centers its research activity in the study of characteristics the intestinal nutrient transport, specially the transport of monosaccharides, amino acids and lipids.
The main research lines are:
Characteristics of intestinal nutrient absorption and its regulation by:
Diet components Nutrient absorption is a process regulated by signals of booth endogenous and dietetic origins. Thus, certain components of the diet can induce changes in the composition and function of the intestinal epithelium. Such changes can modify the properties of the systems responsible for the absorption of nutrients. In this context we are interested in the effects of diet supplementation by essential amino acids the influence of the degree of saturation of diet fatty acids.
Factors related to ontogeny
The capacity to transport nnutrients by the intestine changes during development and such changes are genetically determined. It is important to know the profile of changes in transort, since they may differ for each nutient and intestinal region, in order to establish the contribution of the different segments to the absorptive process and to know the patterns of regulation.
Changes in the functional surface area of the epithelium
The quantification of the epithelial surface by light, confocal and scanning microscopy allow the estimation of the contribution of this variable to the intestinal capacity to absorb nutrients.
Factors related to certain pathologies
Some pathologies, such as the secondary hyperaldosteronism and vascular hypertension, induce changes in the intestinal capacity to absorb nutrients. The description of the adaptive patterns and the knowledge of the cellular mechanisms involved in the regulation of these processes are of considerable physiological and nutrional interest.
Absorption of xenobiotics and its interaction with the absorption of nutrients
Xenobiotics may interact with the absorption of nutrients by either unspecific mechanisms, by changing the permeability properties of the epitheium, or by specific mechanisms, interacting with the physiological mechanisms of uptake, thus alteringtestinal homeosthasis. These kind of studies have nutriotional and parmacological interest since may inform about secondary effects of drugs and food components.
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