Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona

10 articles published in JoVE

• Immunology and Infection

  
  Analysis of the Lipid Composition of Mycobacteria by Thin Layer Chromatography Sandra Guallar-Garrido¹, Marina Luquin¹, Esther Julián^{1 1}Departament de Genètica i de Microbiologia, Facultat de Biociències, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona A protocol is presented to extract the total lipid content of the cell wall of a wide range of mycobacteria. Moreover, extraction and analytical protocols of the different types of mycolic acids are shown. A thin-layer chromatographic protocol to monitor these mycobacterial compounds is also provided.

• Cancer Research

  
  In Vitro Evaluation of Oncogenic Transformation in Human Mammary Epithelial Cells Joan Repullés^1,2, Mariona Terradas^1,3,4, Gemma Fuster^5,6,7, Anna Genescà¹, Teresa Anglada^{1 1}Department of Cell Biology, Physiology and Immunology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, ²Optical Microscopy Core Facilities, IDIBELL, ³Hereditary Cancer Program, Catalan Institute of Oncology, IDIBELL, ⁴Program in Molecular Mechanisms and Experimental Therapy in Oncology (Oncobell), IDIBELL, ⁵New Therapeutic Strategies in Cancer Group. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biomedicine, School of Biology, Institute of Biomedicine, University of Barcelona (IBUB), ⁶Department of Biochemistry & Physiology, School of Pharmacy and Food Sciences, University of Barcelona, ⁷Department of Biosciences, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, University of Vic This protocol provides experimental in vitro tools to evaluate the transformation of human mammary cells. Detailed steps to follow-up cell proliferation rate, anchorage-independent growth capacity, and distribution of cell lineages in 3D cultures with basement membrane matrix are described.

• Bioengineering

  
  Simultaneous Electrical and Mechanical Stimulation to Enhance Cells' Cardiomyogenic Potential Aida Llucià-Valldeperas^1,2, Ramon Bragós³, Antoni Bayés-Genís^{1,4,5,6 1}Insuficiencia Cardiaca y Regeneración Cardiaca (ICREC) Research Program, Health Science Research Institute Germans Trias i Pujol, ²Amsterdam Universitair Medisch Centrum (UMC), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Pulmonology and Physiology, Amsterdam Cardiovascular Sciences, ³Electronic and Biomedical Instrumentation Group, Departament d'Enginyeria Electrònica, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, ⁴Cardiology Service, Germans Trias i Pujol University Hospital, ⁵Department of Medicine, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, ⁶Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red (CIBER) Cardiovascular, Instituto de Salud Carlos III Here we present a protocol for training a cell population using electrical and mechanical stimuli emulating cardiac physiology. This electromechanical stimulation enhances the cardiomyogenic potential of the treated cells and is a promising strategy for further cell therapy, disease modeling, and drug screening.

• Immunology and Infection

  
  Oral Intubation of Adult Zebrafish: A Model for Evaluating Intestinal Uptake of Bioactive Compounds Jie Ji^1,2, Rosemary Thwaite^1,2, Nerea Roher^{1,2 1}Institute of Biotechnology and Biomedicine (IBB-UAB), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, ²Department of Cell Biology, Animal Physiology and Immunology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona The protocol describes intubating adult zebrafish with a biologic; then dissecting and preparing the intestine for cytometry, confocal microscopy and qPCR. This method allows administration of bioactive compounds to monitor intestinal uptake and the local immune stimulus evoked. It is relevant for testing the intestinal dynamics of oral prophylactics.

• Biochemistry

  
  Evaluation of the Impact of Protein Aggregation on Cellular Oxidative Stress in Yeast Anita Carija¹, Salvador Ventura¹, Susanna Navarro^{1 1}Institut de Biotecnologia i Biomedicina and Departament de Bioquímica i Biologia Molecular, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Protein aggregation elicits cellular oxidative stress. This protocol describes a method for monitoring the intracellular states of amyloidogenic proteins and the oxidative stress associated with them, using flow cytometry. The approach is used to study the behavior of soluble and aggregation-prone variants of the amyloid-β peptide.

• Behavior

  
  Using Electroencephalography Measurements and High-quality Video Recording for Analyzing Visual Perception of Media Content Miguel Ángel Martín-Pascual^1,2, Celia Andreu-Sánchez¹, José María Delgado-García³, Agnès Gruart^{3 1}Neuro-Com Research Group, Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona, ²Instituto RTVE, Corporación Radio Televisión Española, ³Division of Neuroscience, Pablo de Olavide University We present detection, acquisition, and analysis of eyeblink rates while watching media content.

• Developmental Biology

  
  Derivation of Stem Cell Lines from Mouse Preimplantation Embryos Marta Vila-Cejudo¹, Elena Ibañez¹, Josep Santalo^{1 1}Unitat de Biologia Cellular, Facultat de Biociències, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona This article describes a protocol to efficiently derive and culture pluripotent stem cell lines from mouse embryos at the blastocyst stage.

• Environment

  
  How to Create Conditioned Taste Aversion for Grazing Ground Covers in Woody Crops with Small Ruminants Carmen L. Manuelian¹, Elena Albanell¹, Maristela Rovai^1,2, Gerardo Caja^{1 1}Group of Ruminant Research (G2R), Department of Animal and Food Science, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, ²Dairy Science Department, South Dakota State University Feeding behavior preferences in livestock can be modified to implement a grazing management plan in woody crops. Here, we present a protocol to show a lithium chloride dose after eating a new plant that induces conditioned taste aversion.

• Biology

  
  Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) Protocol in Human Sperm Zaida Sarrate¹, Ester Anton^{1 1}Unitat de Biologia Cel·lular (Facultat de Biociències), Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona This video-article describes, step by step, how to process a semen sample to achieve good-quality fluorescence in situ hybridization on human spermatozoa. Preparations obtained can be used for aneuploidy screening in the context of clinical diagnosis.

• Biology

  
  Collection and Cryopreservation of Hamster Oocytes and Mouse Embryos Nuno Costa-Borges¹, Sheyla González¹, Elena Ibáñez¹, Josep Santaló^{1 1}Unitat Biologia Cellular (Facultat de Biociències), Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona In this video-article we present a step-by-step demonstration on how to collect and cryopreserve hamster oocytes with high post-thaw survival rates. The same procedure can also be applied to successfully freeze and thaw mouse embryos at different stages of preimplantation development.