Project description:Short-term inhalation exposure to copper oxide nanoparticles induces gene expression changes associated with inflammation and cell proliferation in rat bronchoalveolar epithelium
Project description:Patancheru, near Hyderabad, India, is a major production site for the global bulk drug market. About 90 manufacturers send their wastewater to a common treatment plant in Patancheru. Extraordinary high levels of a wide range of pharmaceuticals have recently been demonstrated in the treated effluent. As little as 0.2% of this effluent can strongly reduce the growth rate of tadpoles, but the underlying mechanisms of toxicity are not known. To begin addressing how the effluent affects aquatic vertebrates, rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) were exposed to 0.2% effluent for five days. Several physiological endpoints, together with effects on global hepatic gene expression patterns, were analyzed. The exposed fish showed both an induction of hepatic cytochrome P450 1A (CYP1A) gene expression, as well as EROD activity. Clinical blood chemistry analyses revealed an increase in plasma phosphate levels, which in humans indicates impaired kidney function. Several oxidative stress-related genes were induced in the livers, however, no significant changes in antioxidant enzyme activities or in the hepatic glutathione levels were found. Furthermore, estrogen-regulated genes were slightly up-regulated following exposure, and moderate levels of estriol were detected in the effluent. This study identifies changes in gene expression triggered by exposure to a high dilution of the effluent, supporting the hypothesis that these fish are responding to chemical exposure. The pattern of regulated genes may contribute to the identification of mechanisms of sub-lethal toxicity, as well as illuminate possible causative agents. Two exposure experiments were conducted with control fish and fish exposed to 0.2% effluent. 19 pools of RNA, each containing three fish, were hybrdizied to in situ synthesized custom-made oligonucleotide microarrays. In total, four exposed and four control pools from exposure experiment I and five exposed and six control pools from exposure experiment II were analyzed.
Project description:d-serine is naturally present throughout the human body. It is also used as add-on therapy for treatment-refractory schizophrenia. d-Serine interacts with the strychnine-insensitive glycine binding site of NMDA receptor, and this interaction could lead to potentially toxic activity (i.e., excitotoxicity) in brain tissue. The transcriptomic changes that occur in the brain after d-serine exposure have not been fully explored. Affymetrix microarray technology was used to determine differential gene expression resulting from D-Serine exposure. Keywords: Dose course
Project description:The Norway rat has important impacts on our life. They are amongst the most used research subjects, resulting in ground-breaking advances. At the same time, wild rats live in close association with us, leading to various adverse interactions. In face of this relevance, it is surprising how little is known about their natural behaviour. While recent laboratory studies revealed their complex social skills, little is known about their social behaviour in the wild. An integration of these different scientific approaches is crucial to understand their social life, which will enable us to design more valid research paradigms, develop more effective management strategies, and to provide better welfare standards. Hence, I first summarise the literature on their natural social behaviour. Second, I provide an overview of recent developments concerning their social cognition. Third, I illustrate why an integration of these areas would be beneficial to optimise our interactions with them.
Project description:BackgroundMurine kobuviruses (MuKV) are newly recognized picornaviruses first detected in murine rodents in the USA in 2011. Little information on MuKV epidemiology in murine rodents is available. Therefore, we conducted a survey of the prevalence and genomic characteristics of rat kobuvirus in Guangdong, China.ResultsFecal samples from 223 rats (Rattus norvegicus) were collected from Guangdong and kobuviruses were detected in 12.6% (28) of samples. Phylogenetic analysis based on partial 3D and complete VP1 sequence regions showed that rat kobuvirus obtained in this study were genetically closely related to those of rat/mouse kobuvirus reported in other geographical areas. Two near full-length rat kobuvirus genomes (MM33, GZ85) were acquired and phylogenetic analysis of these revealed that they shared very high nucleotide/amino acids identity with one another (95.4%/99.4%) and a sewage-derived sequence (86.9%/93.5% and 87.5%/93.7%, respectively). Comparison with original Aichivirus A strains, such human kobuvirus, revealed amino acid identity values of approximately 80%.ConclusionOur findings indicate that rat kobuvirus have distinctive genetic characteristics from other Aichivirus A viruses. Additionally, rat kobuvirus may spread via sewage.
Project description:Inflammation is a key component of pathological angiogenesis. Here we induce cornea neovascularisation using sutures placed into the cornea, and sutures are removed to induce a regression phase. We used whole transcriptome microarray to monitor gene expression profies of several genes
Project description:A series of two color gene expression profiles obtained using Agilent 44K expression microarrays was used to examine sex-dependent and growth hormone-dependent differences in gene expression in rat liver. This series is comprised of pools of RNA prepared from untreated male and female rat liver, hypophysectomized (‘Hypox’) male and female rat liver, and from livers of Hypox male rats treated with either a single injection of growth hormone and then killed 30, 60, or 90 min later, or from livers of Hypox male rats treated with two growth hormone injections spaced 3 or 4 hr apart and killed 30 min after the second injection. The pools were paired to generate the following 6 direct microarray comparisons: 1) untreated male liver vs. untreated female liver; 2) Hypox male liver vs. untreated male liver; 3) Hypox female liver vs. untreated female liver; 4) Hypox male liver vs. Hypox female liver; 5) Hypox male liver + 1 growth hormone injection vs. Hypox male liver; and 6) Hypox male liver + 2 growth hormone injections vs. Hypox male liver. A comparison of untreated male liver and untreated female liver liver gene expression profiles showed that of the genes that showed significant expression differences in at least one of the 6 data sets, 25% were sex-specific. Moreover, sex specificity was lost for 88% of the male-specific genes and 94% of the female-specific genes following hypophysectomy. 25-31% of the sex-specific genes whose expression is altered by hypophysectomy responded to short-term growth hormone treatment in hypox male liver. 18-19% of the sex-specific genes whose expression decreased following hypophysectomy were up-regulated after either one or two growth hormone injections. Finally, growth hormone suppressed 24-36% of the sex-specific genes whose expression was up-regulated following hypophysectomy, indicating that growth hormone acts via both positive and negative regulatory mechanisms to establish and maintain the sex specificity of liver gene expression. For full details, see V. Wauthier and D.J. Waxman, Molecular Endocrinology (2008)