The work ‘Gamma-linolenic acid in breast milk regulates cardiac metabolic maturation’, by doctor Mercedes Ricote and his teamhas achieved the XX Health Sciences Award Caja Rural Granada Foundationendowed with 25,000 euros. This research, carried out at the National Center for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC), has revealed that the intake of breast milk It is the essential signal for the neonatal heart mature metabolically after birth, allowing it to function properly and ensuring postnatal survival.
The team of scientists led by Dr. Mercedes Ricote has verified that in newborn mice the gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), from breast milk, binds to the cellular protein Retinoid X Receptor (RXR). Once RXR detects maternal GLA, it launches genetic programs that equip the mitochondria, the powerhouse of cells, with the proteins necessary to begin consuming lipids, the main source of mature heart.
Research has proven that, in newborn mice, gamma-linolenic acid (GLA)coming from breast milk, binds to the cellular protein Retinoid X Receptor (RXR). Once RXR detects maternal GLA, it launches genetic programs that equip the mitochondria, the energy powerhouse of cells, with the necessary proteins to begin consuming lipids, the main source of the mature heart.
Caja Rural Granada Foundation Health Sciences Award | Photo: Marcos Gómez
The results could have therapeutic implications in some cardiovascular pathologies, opening the possibility of modulating RXR activity in cardiac cells through the use of specific drugs, some of them approved by the US health authorities (FDA) for the treatment of some cancers.
“Our work proposes RXR as a potential therapeutic target for neonatal heart diseases and in systemic pathologies caused by metabolic failures,” he detailed.
About the XX Health Sciences Award, co-organized by the Caja Rural Granada Foundation and the Health Sciences Technology Park Foundation (PTS), in collaboration with the Junta de Andalucía, the University of Granada and the Colleges of Physicians and Pharmacistshas expressed his most sincere gratitude “because these types of initiatives support and make research visible.” “I feel deeply honored and excited to receive this award. He research supportespecially basic research, is essential for the advancement of our society,” he added.
He President of Caja Rural Granada and its Foundation, Antonio León has congratulated the researcher and her team. “Today we recognize, value and reward their effort, their tireless work, surely carried out with passion, dedication and perseverance and with a deep and lasting impact on our lives.”
About the awards, -which fulfill their 20th anniversary-, has highlighted that they are, without a doubt, a “bet by Caja Rural Granada and its Foundation in our objective of dedicating a very important part of our profits to social purposes such as these awards as a way of supporting, recognizing and rewarding the effort and the dedication of our scientists and researchers.” “We hope that this well-deserved recognition of this researcher and her team will be an inspiration for future generations of scientists and will serve to motivate others to follow in her footsteps and continue exploring new paths in medical science.” Finally, he thanked the rest of the collaborators for their support in making these awards a reality.
For his part, the director of the Health Sciences Technology Park Foundation, Luis Gonzalezhighlighted in his speech the importance of these awards that distinguish research talent and their positive impact in Granada. “These awards not only celebrate excellence and highlight individual achievements, but also recognize the meticulous and often prolonged work of researchers to achieve advances, as well as the success of collaboration and knowledge exchange in the scientific community. They are a necessary tool to promote innovation and development in the field of health sciences, and to contribute to the prestige, growth and positioning of Granada as a reference generating center for innovative talent at a regional and national level.”
Caja Rural Granada Foundation Health Sciences Award | Photo: Marcos Gómez
Ignacio Molina, as spokesperson, has highlighted the relevance of this research due to the importance of the discovery of the mechanisms responsible for the maturation of cardiac cells in the newborn, identifying the mechanisms that regulate it. Likewise, he highlighted that the jury ruled in favor of this research, among all those presented, as it “has great social importance for health, highlighting the role of certain components of breast milk and the need to maintain them in formulas. infant milk.” This work has been published in the journal Natureone of the most important in the world.
The expert committee has also been made up of Javier Martín and Elena González (Lopez-Neyra Institute of Parasitology and Biomedicine), Jorge Fernández (College of Physicians of Granada), Fernando Martínez (College of Pharmacists of Granada).
In this edition of XX Health Sciences Prize Fundación Caja Rural Granada, a total of 26 works have been presented to qualify for this recognition, endowed with 25,000 euros, fully consolidated and which has achieved extraordinary prestige among the scientific community.
Fundación Caja Rural Granada co-organises the award with the Health Sciences Technology Park Foundation, and has the collaboration of the Junta de Andalucía, the UGR and the Colleges of Physicians and Pharmacists of Granada. The topic revolves around Regenerative Medicine and Gene Therapy, Molecular Oncology and Cancer Genomics, Genomics, Proteomics and Pharmacogenomics, Immunology and Immunopathology, Molecular Parasitology, Neurosciences, Nutrition, Nutrigenomics and Molecular Endocrinology, Biotechnology and New Therapeutic Targets or Cardiovascular Pathologies.