Intra-articular Injection of Bevacizumab Enhances Bone Marrow Stimulation-Mediated Cartilage Repair in a Rabbit Osteochondral Defect Model.

Background: Bone marrow stimulation (BMS) via microfracture historically has been a first-line treatment for articular cartilage lesions. However, BMS has become less favorable because of resulting fibrocartilage formation. Previous studies have shown that angiogenesis blockade promotes cartilage repair.

Biologically Regulated Marrow Stimulation by Blocking TGF-β1 With Losartan Oral Administration Results in Hyaline-like Cartilage Repair: A Rabbit Osteochondral Defect Model.

Background: Microfracture or bone marrow stimulation (BMS) is often the first choice for clinical treatment of cartilage injuries; however, fibrocartilage, not pure hyaline cartilage, has been reported because of the development of fibrosis in the repair tissue. Transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1), which can promote fibrosis, can be inhibited by losartan and potentially be used to reduce fibrocartilage.

Hypothesis: Blocking TGF-β1 would improve cartilage healing in a rabbit knee BMS model via decreasing the amount of fibrocartilage and increasing hyaline-like cartilage formation.

Evaluation of Analgesic Efficacy of Meloxicam and 2 Formulations of Buprenorphine after Laparotomy in Female Sprague-Dawley Rats.

Managing postoperative pain in rodents is an important part of any animal care and use program, and identifying an optimal analgesic plan for a surgical procedure is critical to providing for animal welfare. Opioids and NSAID are commonly used in rodents, but few studies have evaluated their efficacy in surgical models. The current study aimed to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of clinically relevant doses of buprenorphine (2 formulations) or meloxicam used in combination with ketamine and xylazine anesthesia in a Sprague-Dawley rat ovariohysterectomy surgical model.

Accuracy of 5 Point-of-Care Glucometers in C57BL/6J Mice.

Despite few published studies that assess the accuracy of glucometers in laboratory animals, glucometers are commonly used in animal research. We set out to determine the accuracy of 5 point-of-care glucometers (POCG) when used to evaluate murine whole blood, plasma, and serum samples. The POCG tested included one veterinary device (POCG A) and 4 humanuse instruments (POCG B through E).

A composite critical-size rabbit mandibular defect for evaluation of craniofacial tissue regeneration.

Translational biomaterials targeted toward the regeneration of large bone defects in the mandible require a preclinical model that accurately recapitulates the regenerative challenges present in humans. Computational modeling and in vitro assays do not fully replicate the in vivo environment. Consequently, in vivo models can have specific applications such as those of the mandibular angle defect, which is used to investigate bone regeneration in a nonload-bearing area, and the inferior border mandibular defect, which is a model for composite bone and nerve regeneration, with both models avoiding involvement of soft tissue or teeth.

Pleiotropic effects of interleukin-6 in a "two-hit" murine model of acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) exhibit elevated levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6), which correlate with increased morbidity and mortality. The exact role of IL-6 in ARDS has proven difficult to study because it exhibits either pro- or anti-inflammatory actions in mouse models of lung injury, depending on the model utilized. In order to improve understanding of the role of this complex cytokine in ARDS, we evaluated IL-6 using the clinically relevant combination of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and ventilator-induced lung injury (VILI) in IL-6(-/-) mice.