BACKGROUND Spinal fusion is a common orthopaedic procedure that has been previously modeled using canine, lapine, and rodent subjects. Despite the increasing availability of genetically modified mouse strains, murine models have only been infrequently described. PURPOSE To present an efficient and minimally traumatic procedure for achieving spinal fusion in a mouse model and determine the opt...

BACKGROUND Weight in infancy correlates with risk of type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and obesity in adulthood. Clinical observations have been confounded by obesity-prone genotypes and obesity-linked lifestyles. OBJECTIVES To define the effects of isolated neonatal macrosomia in isogenic animals, we compared macrosomic and control C57Bl6 mice co-fostered by healthy dams receiving standard labo...

In the blood plasma of humans and rats, ceruloplasmin is the major copper-binding protein and ferroxidase, accounting for 70% of the copper present in the plasma, with the rest binding primarily to albumin and a macroglobulin. Systematic studies with fresh plasma were carried out to compare what occurs in the mouse. C57BL6 mice had half as much copper and pPD (p-phenylene diamine) oxidase activ...

Introduction: Reconstructive options for peripheral nerve gaps are currently limited. Autogenous nerve grafts continue to be the gold standard, but are limited by the availability of graft material. All other methods of nerve grafting are either experimental or have limited clinical applicability. We propose developing a tissue engineered peripheral nerve allograft that is non-immunogenic but c...

This study evaluates the effects of anesthesia and fluid support on hemodynamic parameters of the mechanically ventilated mouse of four different strains. All experiments were performed at a similar surgical level of anesthesia, as indicated by the probing of the pedal withdrawal reflex. Three anesthetic regimens [fentanyl-fluanisone-midazolam (FFM), ketamine-medetomidine-atropine (KMA), and is...

correspondence correspondence 538 I n this issue, Y. Groner and colleagues discuss the possible involvement of the transcription factor Runx3 in stomach cancer (Concept, pp.560–564). The fundamental point of the article is that, although both of our groups observed the same neurological and T-cell phenotypes in Runx3 knockout (KO) mice, the C57BL6 strain that we used (type I KO; Li et al., 2002...

We previously reported the development of a new acquired neurogenic HO (NHO) mouse model, combining spinal cord transection (SCI) and chemical muscle injury. Pathological mechanisms responsible for ectopic osteogenesis after central neurological damage are still to be elucidated. In this study, we first hypothesized that peripheral nervous system (PNS) might convey pathological signals from inj...

BACKGROUND Little is known about the role of most asthma susceptibility genes during human lung development. Genetic determinants for normal lung development are not only important early in life, but also for later lung function. OBJECTIVE To investigate the role of expression patterns of well-defined asthma susceptibility genes during human and murine lung development. We hypothesized that g...

Angiotensin II type-1 receptor blockers are widely used with the expectation of prevention of stroke, potential effects to ameliorate of type-2 diabetes, which seems to be closely associated with the impairment of cognitive function in humans. Recently, we have reported that an angiotensin II type-1 receptor blocker prevented cognitive impairment in mice after focal cerebral ischemia, at least ...