Human erythropoietin is mainly recognized for its hematopoietic function; however, by binding to its receptor (EpoR), it can activate different signaling pathways as STAT, PI3K, MAPK and RAS to increase cellular differentiation or provide neuroprotective effects, among others. A recombinant human erythropoietin variant with low glycosylation and without hematopoietic effect (EpoL) was purified from skimmed goat milk. Recombinant human erythropoietin (Epo) was obtained from CHO cell line and used as control to compare EpoL effects. Neuroprotection studies were performed in PC12 cells and rat hippocampal slices. Cells were pretreated during 1h with EpoL or Epo and exposed to oxidative agents (H₂O₂ or FCCP); cell viability was assayed at the end of the experiment by the MTT method. Hippocampal slices were exposed to 15min of oxygen and glucose deprivation (OGD) and the neuroprotective drugs EpoL or Epo were incubated for 2h post-OGD in re-oxygenated medium. Cell cultures stressed with oxidative agents, and pretreated with EpoL, showed neuroprotective effects of 30% at a concentration 10 times lower than that of Epo. Moreover, similar differences were observed in OGD ex vivo assays. Neuroprotection elicited by EpoL was lost when an antibody against EpoR was present, indicating that its effect is EpoR-dependent. In conclusion, our results suggest that EpoL has a more potent neuroprotective profile than Epo against oxidative stress, mediated by activation of EpoR, thus EpoL represents an important target to develop a potential biopharmaceutical to treat different central nervous system pathologies related to oxidative stress such as stroke or neurodegenerative diseases.

Bats are one of the most abundant and important mammals in ecosystems. However, their fossil record is scarce and fragile, making them difficult to find. Accordingly, there is no record of this group in the volcanic islands of the mid-Atlantic Ocean apart from the Canary Islands. This paper studies the first bat fossil record of the Canary Islands (Spain). The material studied is found within two Quaternary lava tubes, Cueva de los Verdes on Lanzarote and Cueva Roja on the island of El Hierro. The dental and humeral morphology and biometry are analysed and compared with current specimens. Among our results we highlight the first fossil data of two species endemic to the islands of the mid-Atlantic Ocean,Plecotus teneriffaeandPipistrellus maderensis, the former from the Canary Islands and the latter from the Azores, Madeira and the Canary Islands. We also confirm the presence ofPipistrellus kuhliiin the fossil record of the island of Lanzarote. No differences are observed between the dental morphology of the current and the fossil populations ofP. maderensisandPl. teneriffae. In the case ofP. kuhlii, the populations of the Canary Islands and the Iberian Peninsula show differences in the paraconule with respect to the populations from central Europe. Palaeoecological studies of these taxa suggest that these islands presented a similar habitat when the sites were formed to the present-day habitat.

We studied a Middle Pleistocene molluscan association from northern Tenerife. It was composed of 14 species, all found in the TL-1 and TL-2 stratigraphic beds of the middle Pleistocene Unit I. The families present were Helicidae, Enidae with two new species, Pomatiidae, Canariellidae, Vitrinidae and Geomitridae. For the Geometric Morphometrics (GM) analysis, a total of 58 pictures from three localities were analysed, comparing the morphological similarities between Napaeus guanche sp. nov., and some closely related extant species, Pomatias laevigatus and extant and fossil Hemicycla eurythyra based on shell shape. According to the PCA, Napaeus accounted for 77.53% of the variation of the shell shape within the first two components, Hemicycla accounted for 62.62% and Pomatias accounted for 52.79%. The permutational ANOVA showed to be a useful analysis to discriminate between groups, presenting non-significance for Napaeus, and significance for Hemicycla and Pomatias depicting high similarity. Despite this, the dispersion analysis showed a relatively high dispersion of the dataset for Napaeus and Pomatias, related to sample size, while for Hemicycla, the result was significant and congruent with permutational ANOVA. We describe two new species, Napaeus lipauges and Napaeus guanche increasing the known diversity of the genus Napaeus in the Canary Islands.

Two eggs (L29 and N28) were recovered in the Holocene site of Lobos 3, (Islote de Lobos, north Fuerteventura, Canary Islands), the site has been interpreted as a purple dye workshop from the Early Roman Empire Epoch. For the first time, eggs from a Holocene deposit of the Canary Islands have been analyzed in terms of size, shape, and biomineral structure, and studied on the basis of several thin sections and SEM analysis. The analysis of the remains allowed the assignation of both eggs to Procellariidae birds, thanks to the relative proportion of the eggshell layers and the vesiculation patterns. The size of the eggs allowed the assignation of L29 to cf. Calonectris/Puffinus, and to cf. Puffinus for N28. The absence of more structural analysis on Procellariiformes eggshells prevent a more specific assignation. The accumulation pattern of the eggs is compatible with a seasonal occupation pattern of the Roman site.

El uso de objetos tangibles (maquetas, réplicas de obras artísticas, fósiles…) en entornos educativos se suele utilizar para mejorar el proceso de aprendizaje. Cuando el conocimiento se difunde a través de entornos virtuales, a veces, se pierde el valor de estos objetos tangibles. Las nuevas tecnologías de bajo coste, permiten solventar este problema, permitiendo a los profesores incluir en sus aulas virtuales el acceso y manipulación de objetos tridimensionales. En este artículo se describe el proceso de creación y divulgación de un contenido educativo tridimensional e interactivo para aprendizaje en un entorno virtual. Como caso práctico se ha trabajado sobre el patrimonio fósil marino canario. Los fósiles se usan como material tangible en la enseñanza de paleontología, sin embargo no están disponibles para el trabajo fuera del aula. En el trabajo descrito en este artículo, se han digitalizado en 3D una selección de 18 fósiles. Los archivos obtenidos están a disposición de los alumnos en un entorno online, permitiendo su descarga, visualización e interacción en dispositivos móviles multitáctiles. Además, si el alumno lo prefiere, puede imprimirlos en 3D. Para finalizar, se ha realizado una experiencia con 70 alumnos universitarios que, después de acceder al repositorio online creado, han contestado a un cuestionario para valorar los materiales diseñados.

An iconic, insular, endemic genus of lizards (Gallotia) is present on the Canary Islands (Spain), comprising gigantic to smaller-sized species. Despite numerous studies on various biological aspects of this genus, the osteological knowledge available is scarce. This makes it difficult to identify to species level the bone remains recovered from both living and extinct taxa, which is essential to understanding the evolution of this genus through time, its distribution and its migratory patterns. Herein, a detailed description, comparison and discussion of each mandibular bone of all the living giant species and the fossil taxon G. goliath is presented. First detailed descriptions of G. intermedia and G. bravoana are presented, and interspecific and ontogenetic characters to be considered for Gallotia and related taxa in future works are proposed. Disentangling the intra- and interspecific variability of the mandible, as well as its ontogenetic changes through time, is of special interest for a variety of reasons. These include: a) to evaluate paleobiodiversity; b) to evaluate intraspecific variation and ontogenetic changes; c) to establish mandibular characters for specific identification; d) as previous step in performing computational biomechanics studies based on 3D models to shed in-depth light on feeding ecology.