Enhanced susceptibility of triple transgenic Alzheimer's disease (3xTg-AD) mice to acute infection.

Background: Infection is a recognised risk factor for Alzheimer's disease (AD) and can worsen symptoms in established disease. AD patients have higher rates of infection and are more likely to require hospital admissions due to infections than individuals without dementia. Infections have also been found to increase the risk of those over 84 years of age being diagnosed with dementia.

Mechanisms of Comorbidities Associated With the Metabolic Syndrome: Insights from the Corpulent Rat Strain.

Obesity and its metabolic complications have emerged as the epidemic of the new millennia. The use of obese rodent models continues to be a productive component of efforts to understand the concomitant metabolic complications of this disease. In 1978, the rat model was developed with an autosomal recessive corpulent () trait resulting from a premature stop codon in the extracellular domain of the leptin receptor.

Pragmatic target discovery from novel gene to functionally defined drug target: the interleukin-1 story.

The pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-1 (IL-1) has been proposed as a mediator of the acute neurodegenerative changes that occur following stroke. This is based largely on experimental studies in rodents, in particular the marked reduction in ischemic cell death seen when IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra) is administered. Mechanisms of IL-1 action remain largely unknown, but they may involve complex effects on many cells including microglia, astrocytes, neurons, and endothelial cells.