Tel. +34 913947256 (Ext. 1678)
Tel. +34 913947256 (Ext. 1678)
Faculty of Medicine Complutense University of Madrid
Avenida Complutense, s/n. Madrid 28040
For more than thirty years, the research group has described the 24-hour variations of genetic, metabolic, neuronal, endocrine, and immunological markers in the Wistar albino rat, which show different acrophases and amplitudes depending on whether the analytes are measured in plasma or tissue, and the season of the year in which they are studied. All this indicates that secretory patterns are synchronised through mechanisms that are currently being analysed and in which melatonin (a chronobiotic hormone that regulates circadian rhythms) and clock genes, among others, seem to play a role. These rhythms described in control animals are modified under different conditions, such as nutritional alterations (obesity, anorexia, alcohol consumption), ageing, or inflammatory diseases.
In the last five years, the research group has focused on the study of molecular and chronobiological mechanisms associated with obesity and its comorbidities, as well as alcohol consumption. To this end, the group has developed different experimental models: 1) Model of experimental obesity induced by administration of a hyperlipidaemic diet (HLD) and 2) Model of alcohol consumption by administration of a liquid diet. These models allow us to study at the molecular level the interaction between the circadian system and metabolism, in order to obtain information that will allow us to find targets that will facilitate new approaches to their treatment.
María del Pilar Fernández Mateos
Professor in the Department of Cell Biology (Medicine, UCM). She began his research activity studying the neurobiological basis of hearing. Subsequently, she worked on cell differentiation and cell recognition antigens. She joined the Neuroimmunomodulation of the Endocrine System Laboratory of the Department of Biochemistry to study the correlations between the immune and neuroendocrine systems with circadian physiology. From these studies, circadian variations of genetic, metabolic, neuronal, endocrine, immunological, and metabolic markers were described in different experimental models. She has carried out research stays at the UFR Santé, Médecine et Biologie Humaine, U. La Sorbonne Paris-Nord; at the Institute of Biomedicine, Sahlgrenska Academy, Faculty of Health Sciences, U. Gothenburg, and at la Unité de Recherches sur la Différentiation Cellulaire, Inserm-Paris Sud Villejuif-Paul Brousse. She has participated in 16 research projects. She is an evaluator of programmes oriented to the Financing of Biomedical Research, Development and Innovation, and of Postgraduate Scholarship programmes for Spain and abroad. She collaborates with the National Agency and Regional Agencies for Knowledge in University Evaluation and Accreditation. She is a member of the Health Commission of the COBCM and is a reviewer for different journals such as Nutrients, IJMS, Biomedicines and Cancer.
