Publications by authors named "Mia Buehr"
Article Synopsis
- Lesch-Nyhan disease (LND) results from mutations in the HPRT gene, which is vital for recycling purine nucleotides, leading to neurological issues.
- Researchers created HPRT knock-out rats to explore the effects of this mutation on brain function, finding them viable and fertile but with notable metabolic changes in brain biochemistry.
- Analysis showed decreased dopamine levels in these rats, reflecting similar deficits in humans with LND, suggesting this model could help further understand the disease's impact on neural function and behavior.
Article Synopsis
- Stabilization of β-catenin in embryonic stem cells (ESC) promotes self-renewal in naïve-type mouse ESCs when GSK3 activity is inhibited, but induces differentiation in more advanced primed-type ESCs.
- Rat ESCs displayed similar growth and stability in the presence of a MEK inhibitor alone, unlike mouse ESCs, which required additional GSK3 inhibition to avoid differentiation.
- The study reveals that β-catenin signaling is crucial for regulating self-renewal of rat ESCs in a dose-dependent manner, suggesting the need to carefully manage this signaling pathway for maintaining pluripotency.
Article Synopsis
- Rats are favored in biological research due to the availability of authentic rat embryonic stem (ES) cells, enabling advanced genetic engineering through homologous recombination.
- The study tested the targeted disruption of the hprt gene in rat ES cells from different strains, achieving approximately 2% success in gene inactivation using specific selection methods.
- The results confirmed efficient gene modification in rat ES cells, showing that these cells can still differentiate after genetic targeting, paving the way for enhanced genetic studies in rats.
Embryonic stem (ES) cells have been available from inbred mice since 1981 but have not been validated for other rodents. Failure to establish ES cells from a range of mammals challenges the identity of cultivated stem cells and our understanding of the pluripotent state. Here we investigated derivation of ES cells from the rat.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGenetically modified laboratory animals--what welfare problems do they face?
J Appl Anim Welf Sci
March 2004
In this article, we respond to public concern expressed about the welfare of genetically modified (GM) nonhuman animals. As a contribution to the debate on this subject, we attempt in this article to determine in what situations the practice of genetic modification in rodents may generate significant welfare problems. After a brief discussion of the principles of animal welfare, we focus on the problem of animal suffering and review some types of gene modifications likely to cause predictable welfare problems.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEmbryonic stem (ES) cells are permanent pluripotent stem cell lines established from pre-implantation mouse embryos. There is currently great interest in the potential therapeutic applications of analogous cells derived from human embryos. The isolation of ES cells is commonly presented as a straightforward transfer of cells in the early embryo into culture.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF