Effect of leptin on vascular calcification in apolipoprotein E-deficient mice.

Objective: The adipocytokine leptin has been proposed to increase cardiovascular risk in both obese and diabetic individuals. In the current study, therefore, we used apoE-deficient mice to examine the effects of leptin on both lesion size and calcification.

Methods And Results: Mice were treated with once daily intraperitoneal injections of leptin (125 microg/mouse/d) for 2 months.

Inhibition of osteolytic bone metastasis by unfractionated heparin.

In the current study, we examine heparin's anti-metastatic properties by using a well-defined mouse model of osteolytic bone metastasis. C57BL/6 mice were treated with increasing doses of unfractionated heparin (15, 20, or 25 units/mouse) 30 min prior to the left ventricular injection of GFP-transfected B16F10 melanoma cells. Heparin's effect on tumour burden and bone strength was then quantified 14 days later by bone histomorphometry and biomechanical testing, respectively.