scholarly journals Recent Advances in Arsenic Carcinogenesis: Modes of Action, Animal Model Systems, and Methylated Arsenic Metabolites

2001 ◽  
Vol 172 (3) ◽  
pp. 249-261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirk T. Kitchin
Keyword(s):  
Animal Model ◽  
Model Systems ◽  
Modes Of Action ◽  
Recent Advances ◽  
Arsenic Metabolites

Recent advances in animal model experimentation in autism research

2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 264-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mousumi Tania ◽  
Md. Asaduzzaman Khan ◽  
Kun Xia
Keyword(s):  
Animal Model ◽  
Animal Models ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
Behavioral Alterations ◽  
Important Place ◽  
Adult Mice ◽  
Recent Advances ◽  
Model Study ◽  
Disease Biology ◽  
Animal Model Study

ObjectiveAutism, a lifelong neuro-developmental disorder is a uniquely human condition. Animal models are not the perfect tools for the full understanding of human development and behavior, but they can be an important place to start. This review focused on the recent updates of animal model research in autism.MethodsWe have reviewed the publications over the last three decades, which are related to animal model study in autism.ResultsAnimal models are important because they allow researchers to study the underlying neurobiology in a way that is not possible in humans. Improving the availability of better animal models will help the field to increase the development of medicines that can relieve disabling symptoms. Results from the therapeutic approaches are encouraging remarkably, since some behavioral alterations could be reversed even when treatment was performed on adult mice. Finding an animal model system with similar behavioral tendencies as humans is thus vital for understanding the brain mechanisms, supporting social motivation and attention, and the manner in which these mechanisms break down in autism. The ongoing studies should therefore increase the understanding of the biological alterations associated with autism as well as the development of knowledge-based treatments therapy for those struggling with autism.ConclusionIn this review, we have presented recent advances in research based on animal models of autism, raising hope for understanding the disease biology for potential therapeutic intervention to improve the quality of life of autism individuals.

Cardiac muscle diseases in genetically engineered mice: evolution of molecular physiology

1995 ◽  
Vol 269 (3) ◽  
pp. H755-H766 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. R. Chien
Keyword(s):  
Cardiac Muscle ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Genetically Engineered ◽  
Mouse Genetics ◽  
Model Systems ◽  
Molecular Physiology ◽  
Muscle Diseases ◽  
Recent Advances ◽  
Genetically Engineered Mice

Recent advances in molecular, cellular, and genetically based technologies now offer the possibility of generating genetically engineered mice that display physiological phenotypes with direct relevance to human pathophysiological states. The ability to create gene ablations, gene duplications, and gene modifications should allow the use of genetic approaches to map in vivo pathways responsible for complex physiological phenotypes. Recent work from our laboratory utilizing this approach to study cardiac muscle diseases in both the adult context (cardiac hypertrophy) and in the embryonic context (congenital ventricular defects) will be discussed, as well as the steps that led to the generation and characterization of these novel mouse model systems. A large body of work from independent laboratories now points to the inception of a new field of molecular physiology that will fuse mouse genetics and in vivo physiology using appropriate miniaturized physiological technology. Recent advances and prospects for future directions are summarized.

scholarly journals Bovine leukemia virus protease: comparison with human T-lymphotropic virus and human immunodeficiency virus proteases

2007 ◽  
Vol 88 (7) ◽  
pp. 2052-2063 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamás Sperka ◽  
Gabriella Miklóssy ◽  
Yunfeng Tie ◽  
Péter Bagossi ◽  
Gábor Zahuczky ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Immunodeficiency Virus ◽  
Animal Model ◽  
Amino Acid ◽  
Bovine Leukemia Virus ◽  
Leukemia Virus ◽  
Model Systems ◽  
T Lymphotropic Virus ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Immunodeficiency Virus ◽  
Hiv 1

Bovine leukemia virus (BLV) is a valuable model system for understanding human T-lymphotropic virus 1 (HTLV-1); the availability of an infectious BLV clone, together with animal-model systems, will help to explore anti-HTLV-1 strategies. Nevertheless, the specificity and inhibitor sensitivity of the BLV protease (PR) have not been characterized in detail. To facilitate such studies, a molecular model for the enzyme was built. The specificity of the BLV PR was studied with a set of oligopeptides representing naturally occurring cleavage sites in various retroviruses. Unlike HTLV-1 PR, but similar to the human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1) enzyme, BLV PR was able to hydrolyse the majority of the peptides, mostly at the same position as did their respective host PRs, indicating a broad specificity. When amino acid residues of the BLV PR substrate-binding sites were replaced by equivalent ones of the HIV-1 PR, many substitutions resulted in inactive protein, indicating a great sensitivity to mutations, as observed previously for the HTLV-1 PR. The specificity of the enzyme was studied further by using a series of peptides containing amino acid substitutions in a sequence representing a naturally occurring HTLV-1 PR cleavage site. Also, inhibitors of HIV-1 PR, HTLV-1 PR and other retroviral proteases were tested on the BLV PR. Interestingly, the BLV PR was more susceptible than the HTLV-1 PR to the inhibitors tested. Therefore, despite the specificity differences, in terms of mutation intolerance and inhibitor susceptibility of the PR, BLV and the corresponding animal-model systems may provide good models for testing of PR inhibitors that target HTLV-1.

Recent Advances in NMR Diffusion Techniques for Studying Drug Binding

2003 ◽  
Vol 56 (9) ◽  
pp. 855 ◽  
Author(s):  
William S. Price
Keyword(s):  
Drug Development ◽  
Study Drug ◽  
Drug Binding ◽  
Model Systems ◽  
Aqueous Samples ◽  
Recent Advances ◽  
Physiological Relevance ◽  
Nmr Diffusion

Characterizing the binding of ligands to macromolecular receptors in solution is important to many areas of chemistry, biology, and nanobiotechnology, but perhaps most notably to drug development. NMR has proven to be particularly useful for such studies, but the systems studied have generally been restricted to model systems with dubious physiological relevance. This paper reviews the use of NMR diffusion measurements to study drug binding and two recent advances that enable measurements to be conducted in more sensitive higher-field NMR spectrometers in non-deuterated aqueous samples.

scholarly journals Antibody response to the 45 kDa Candida albicans antigen in an animal model and potential role of the antigen in adherence

2008 ◽  
Vol 57 (12) ◽  
pp. 1466-1472 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helena Bujdáková ◽  
Ema Paulovičová ◽  
Silvia Borecká-Melkusová ◽  
Juraj Gašperík ◽  
Soňa Kucharíková ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Animal Model ◽  
Candida Albicans ◽  
Biofilm Formation ◽  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Vaccine Development ◽  
Laser Scanning Microscopy ◽  
Model Systems ◽  
Confocal Laser

The Candida antigen CR3-RP (complement receptor 3-related protein) is supposed to be a ‘mimicry’ protein because of its ability to bind antibody directed against the α subunit of the mammalian CR3 (CD11b/CD18). This study aimed to (i) investigate the specific humoral isotypic response to immunization with CR3-RP in vivo in a rabbit animal model, and (ii) determine the role of CR3-RP in the adherence of Candida albicans in vitro using the model systems of buccal epithelial cells (BECs) and biofilm formation. The synthetic C. albicans peptide DINGGGATLPQ corresponding to 11 amino-acids of the CR3-RP sequence DINGGGATLPQALXQITGVIT, determined by N-terminal sequencing, was used for immunization of rabbits to obtain polyclonal anti-CR3-PR serum and for subsequent characterization of the humoral isotypic response of rabbits. A significant increase of IgG, IgA and IgM anti-CR3-RP specific antibodies was observed after the third (P<0.01) and the fourth (P<0.001) immunization doses. The elevation of IgA levels suggested peptide immunomodulation of the IgA1 subclass, presumably in coincidence with Candida epithelial adherence. Blocking CR3-RP with polyclonal anti-CR3-RP serum reduced the ability of Candida to adhere to BECs, in comparison with the control, by up to 35 % (P<0.001), and reduced biofilm formation by 28 % (P<0.001), including changes in biofilm thickness and integrity detected by confocal laser scanning microscopy. These properties of CR3-RP suggest that it has potential for future vaccine development.

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