Project description:This project examined if sex differences in K48 polyubiquitination in the amygdala were developmentally regulated. This used basolateral amygdala (BLA) samples collected from 4 and 9 week old male and female Sprague-Dawley rats.
Project description:Male Sprague-Dawley rats were used to establish exhausted-exercise model by motorized rodent treadmill. Yu-Ping-Feng-San at doses of 2.18 g/kg was administrated by gavage before exercise training for 10 consecutive days. Quantitative proteomics was performed for assessing the related mechanism of Yu-Ping-Feng-San.
Project description:To study the molecular mediators of naturally rewarding effects of palatable food we used a model of palatable âsnackingâ (Ulrich-Lai et al., 2007) in which rats are given chronic, brief access to a limited amount of sucrose solution (30%). Single housed, male Long-Evans rats (250g) (n=12 per group) from Harlan Labs (Indianapolis, IN) received normal rat chow (Harlan Teklad) and water ad libitum for the duration of the experiment. After a one-week period of acclimation, rats were randomly assigned to drink treatment groups of either 30% sucrose solution or water. Rats received a 14-day regimen of twice daily (9:30 and 15:30) brief (maximum of 30 minutes) limited (up to 4 mL) access of their assigned drink solution. Drink solutions were delivered via a graduated sipper placed onto the cage top in addition to the existing water bottle and sippers were immediately removed when the animal had consumed 4mL or after the 30-minute access period, whichever occurred first. Drink intake, food intake, and body weight were monitored throughout the experiment to verify that the rats learned to drink sucrose, that they adjusted chow intake for calories consumed from sucrose (~10%), and that there was no effect on body weight gain as is normally seen with this model (Ulrich-Lai et al., 2007). Drink treatment terminated on day 14 and at 8:00 on the morning of day 15, the rats were sacrificed by rapid decapitation. BLA tissue was dissected, RNA extracted, and gene expression changes between water and sucrose groups were accessed by microarray. We used microarray to assess the changes in gene expression in the BLA of rats that have had a history of sucrose snacks (n=12) vs control (n=12). Rats received access (up to 4 mL) to extra bottles containing water (control) or 30% sucrose twice daily for 14 days. Rats had ab lib access to chow and water for the duration of the experiment. Rats were sacrificed the morning of day 15 and the BLA was removed for microarray analysis. Functional cluster analysis was performed on the list of 145 significantly upregulated genes using Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (Ingenuity Systems, Redwood City, CA). See supplementary file at the foot of this record.
Project description:Psychological loss is a common experience that erodes well-being and negatively impacts quality of life. The molecular underpinnings of loss are poorly understood, making it challenging to develop treatment strategies. Here, we investigate the mechanisms of loss using an enrichment removal (ER) paradigm in rats. RNA-seq was used to investigate the molecular landscape of the basolateral amygdala (BLA), a region previously implicated in loss, in adult male Sprague-Dawley rats following ER. Rats were subjected to standard housing (SH) for 6 weeks, environmental enrichment (EE) for 6 weeks, or enrichment removal (ER), consisting of 4 weeks of EE followed by 2 weeks of removal into impoverished conditions (n=10/pool/group). Rats were then perfused and micropunches were collected from the basolateral amygdala (BLA) for bulk RNA-seq.
Project description:Psychological loss is a common experience that erodes well-being and negatively impacts quality of life. The molecular underpinnings of loss are poorly understood, making it challenging to develop treatment strategies. Here, we investigate the mechanisms of loss using an enrichment removal (ER) paradigm in rats. RNA-seq was used to investigate the molecular landscape of the basolateral amygdala (BLA), a region previously implicated in loss, in adult male Sprague-Dawley rats following ER. Rats were subjected to standard housing (SH) for 6 weeks, environmental enrichment (EE) for 6 weeks, or enrichment removal (ER), consisting of 4 weeks of EE followed by 2 weeks of removal into impoverished conditions (n=6/group). Rats were then perfused and micropunches were collected from the basolateral amygdala (BLA) for bulk RNA-seq.
Project description:Knee osteoarthritis (KOA), as a degenerative multifactorial disease, affects the quality of life and mental health of patients, and also brings a huge socioeconomic burden. Treating synovitis have shown promise as anti-inflammatory therapeutics in mitigating OA symptoms and disease progression. Here, by analysing synovial single-cell sequencing (scRNA-seq) data from KOA, we found that synovial fibroblasts (FLS) in OA synovium showed a distinct pro-inflammatory phenotype. We collected synovial tissue from patients with clinical OA as well as from healthy donors, and histological examination was consistent with findings in scRNA-seq. Inspired by recent cross-tissue fibroblast lineage studies, we identified by sequencing that healthy FLS in synovial tissues share transcriptome-level similarities with dermal fibroblasts (DFb). Subsequently, we revealed the local as well as systemic distribution of intra-articular injected DFbs by constructing/extracting two types of rat fibroblasts (luciferase DFbs as well as GFP DFbs). The results demonstrate that DFbs can be locally retained in the synovium for up to three weeks following targeted engrafting on it. And intra-articular injection does not result in DFbs migration to vital organs or the occurrence of histological changes in these organs. A rat model of KOA was constructed by anterior cruciate ligament transection (ACLT) in order to study the therapeutic effect of DFbs on KOA. After injection, the rats showed improvement in painful gait. In addition, histological as well as imaging results showed reduced synovitis and improvement in articular cartilage. Finally we verified the protective effect of DFbs on cytokine-stimulated chondrocytes in a co-culture system.