Fernández Constenla, Anabel

Research interests

The study of postnatal neurogenesis in the spinal cord of turtles was the subject of my PhD thesis. The relevant and original contributions we obtained consisted of describing the generation of new neurons in the central gelatinous membrane of the spinal cord. The expression of molecular markers and the localization of spinal stem cells were studied. In 2007, I began working on my own line of postnatal neurogenesis in the brain of fish of the genus Austrolebias, a native species. This is an emerging model appropriate for the development of comparative studies in different fields of knowledge. These studies involve multidisciplinary projects with different approaches in collaboration with other laboratories in the Faculty of Sciences. We have made progress in the description and characterization of the neurogenic regions of the brain of these fish (Rosillo et al. 2010; Fernández et al. 2011). As well as in the knowledge of the brain of A. charrua in particular, where after arduous work we published the brain atlas of this species Torres-Pérez et al (2024). We are currently working on neurogenic activity in relation to the visual and olfactory systems, which seems to be related to the prevalence of these systems depending on the phylogenetic location and the changing conditions of the habitat. In this subject we have a solid collaboration with Dr. José Manuel García-Verdugo (Spanish from the University of Valencia), a world academic reference in the field of postnatal neurogenesis from a comparative point of view. With whom we have guided a PhD student Juan Carlos Rosillo and we have published 6 papers in good international journals. Several of these data were the subject of a book chapter edited by professors of the Faculty of Sciences (2015). More recently, we have ventured into the study of plasticity in the retina of fish using various species. The retina is sensitive to changes in light and environmental conditions, responding with variations in proliferative and neurogenic activity. We began a collaborative study with Dr. Wittbrodt's laboratory at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, on retinal regeneration in Oryzias latipes (the Asian squid), where we have a PhD student from Uruguay. We have made progress in understanding how changes in light intensity affect the progenitor cell population, changing their proliferation rate. Müller's radial glia are key cells in cell regeneration. In these studies, we have made progress in locating stem cells and radial glia progenitors in the ventricular wall of the olfactory bulb and the retina. With Dr. Silvia Olivera and Dr. Gabriela Casanova, MSc, we are developing another clinically important project: studying the role of astrocytes in a neurodegenerative childhood disease, Academia Glutarica I. We have published several papers. It has been demonstrated that astrocytes actively participate in response to acidity, which also affects oligonucleotides and myelination. We have shown that CH38 can act as a cytoprotective agent against AGI.

Working area

I am a researcher in the field of Neuroscience. I direct the Comparative Neurobiology Laboratory at the Clemente Estable Institute of Biological Research. I am also an adjunct professor in the Neuroscience Laboratory of the Faculty of Sciences. We work on the study of adult neurogenesis in different species of fish. Our approach is comparative; we study brain anatomy and neurogenesis, with special emphasis on sensory systems, the olfactory bulb, and the retina as systems that are exposed to environmental variations. Adaptive plasticity, evolutionary, and reparative phenomena diverge between species. This gives us the opportunity to delve into the basic cellular knowledge that leads to the generation of new neurons in the face of different adaptive and reparative events. Our studies are anatomical and histological, focusing on neural stem cells and their proliferation cycles. Our fundamental tools are photon, confocal, and electron microscopy to answer our questions. We also analyze how some commonly used herbicides can affect cell turnover in the nervous system.