Browsing by Author "Aguayo, Sebastián"

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    Poor periodontal health is linked to impaired cognitive performance in older people: A cross-sectional study
    (2023) Arenas Márquez, María Jesús; Toro, Pablo; Aguayo, Sebastián
    Background At present, there is no cure for dementia, and most available treatments have shown marginal or no effect. This fact makes it crucial to identify factors that increase the risk of cognitive decline in the population. Evidence suggests that poor periodontal health may be one of those factors; nonetheless, to ascertain this possibility, it is necessary to account for the influence of education, as it is frequently the determining factor that explains the association between a risk factor and cognitive impairment. Therefore, this study aimed to determine whether poor periodontal health is associated with impaired cognitive performance in older people from an agricultural community in Chile, independent of education. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted with the entire universe of participants older than 60 years from the MAUCO cohort in 2015. The exposure of interest was periodontal health status assessed through a proxy measure based on gum appearance (color) and bleeding, and individuals were categorized into three groups: healthy periodontium, signs of possible disease, and unhealthy periodontium. The dependent variable was cognitive performance evaluated using the ACE-R test. The confounding effect generated by sociodemographic factors was controlled through regression models: linear regression with the score obtained in the ACE-R test and multinomial regression for normal cognition, cognitive impairment, and dementia as outcomes. Results The study included 2,716 participants with a mean age of 65.7 ± 4 years, of whom 52% were women and 63% had a low educational level. Unhealthy periodontium was observed in 10.8% of the individuals, while 17.6% had cognitive impairment or dementia. People with an unhealthy periodontium scored two points lower on the ACE-R test and were almost twice as likely to have dementia (OR 1.86 95% CI 1.07–3.25) than those with periodontal health, regardless of age, sex, and educational level. Conclusion Older people with unhealthy periodontium seem to have worse cognitive performance and a higher possibility of suffering from dementia than those with healthy periodontium, regardless of sociodemographic factors. Education does not explain this outcome. © 2023, CC BY.
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    Royal Jelly Derived Extracellular Vesicles Modulate Microglial Nanomechanics and Inflammatory Responses
    (2025) Zavala, Gabriela; Berríos, Pablo; Sandoval, Felipe; Bravo, Graciela; Barrera, Nelson P.; Alarcón Moyano, Jéssica; Díaz Calderón, Paulo; Aguayo, Sebastián; Schuh, Christina
    BACKGROUND Microglia, the braińs resident immune cells, undergo profound mechanical and functional changes upon activation contributing to neuroinflammation, a pathological signature of many neurological diseases. Thus, new anti-inflammatory treatment options are needed that tackle these mechanobiological alterations in microglia, which remain strongly understudied. In this context, extracellular vesicles (EVs) are crucial mediators of intercellular and interkingdom communication, yet their influence on the mechanobiological properties of recipient cells remains largely unknown. Honeybee-derived Royal Jelly EVs (RJEVs) have demonstrated remarkable anti-inflammatory properties, but their impact on microglial cellular nanomechanics and uptake mechanisms remains unclear. RESULTS In this study, we used a multi-disciplinary approach to analyze the resulting biological and nanomechanical changes following the activation of human microglia and the potential effect of RJEV treatment on these mechanobiological parameters. We observed that LPS treatment was associated with decreased cellular Young’s modulus, increased membrane fluidity, and enhanced motility of microglia, indicating a more migratory and pro-inflammatory phenotype. Additionally, LPS exposure altered cellular EV uptake mechanisms by shifting preference from an equilibrium of four mechanisms to the predominance of macropinocytosis and clathrin-dependent endocytosis. Remarkably, RJEV treatment counteracted these mechanobiological changes by, in turn, increasing microglial stiffness, reducing motility, and decreasing secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines. CONCLUSION This is the first study to demonstrate that microglial activation state dictates EV uptake mechanisms and to establish a direct link between inflammation, cellular and membrane mechanics, and EV-mediated modulation. Our findings highlight RJEVs as promising candidates for regulating neuroinflammation by targeting microglial mechanobiology as well as opening new strategies for EV-based therapeutics