The value of biomedical research training for veterinary anatomic and clinical pathologists.

Veterinary pathologists traditionally have been actively engaged in research as principal investigators and as collaborators. Pathologists frequently obtain advanced training in research; however, it appears that in the last 10 years there has been a reversal of a previous trend toward increasing numbers of pathologists obtaining PhD degrees. This has arisen despite an established shortage of veterinarians engaged in research.

Retinoic acid receptor beta2 inhibition of metastasis in mouse mammary gland xenografts.

The retinoic acid receptor beta2 (RARbeta2) protein is a putative tumor suppressor that inhibits proliferation and can induce apoptosis when introduced into breast, cervical, lung, and pancreatic cancer cell lines. To determine if RARbeta2 suppresses proliferation of mammary-derived cancer cells in vivo, we transduced MDA-MB-435 breast cancer cells with the LXSN retroviral vector containing RARbeta2 and implanted LXSN vector- or RARbeta2-transduced cells into the mammary fat pads of nude and severe combined immune deficiency (SCID) mice. We analyzed the xenografts for several tumor parameters, including tumor size, inflammation, vascularity, mitoses, tumor recurrence at the primary site following resection, and metastases.

Systemic and intestinal immune responses to HIV-2287 infection in Macaca nemestrina.

Nonhuman primate models of human AIDS have been used successfully to evaluate candidate vaccines and infection intervention therapies. Successes of pathogenicity studies in primate models have been limited because of the varied infection outcomes and characteristic low number of study animals. The acutely pathogenic HIV-2(287)--Macaca nemestrina model has shown promise both in antiviral drug evaluation and in pathogenicity studies.

Videoendoscopic techniques for collection of multiple, serial intra-abdominal biopsy specimens in HIV-negative and HIV-positive pigtail macaques (Macaca nemestrina).

Tissue biopsy sampling by laparotomy is considered major surgery, which precludes serial sampling. This increases variability and requires a larger n value for pathogenesis studies. To address this problem, a study was conducted to develop and validate the feasibility of performing multiple, serial biopsy sampling by laparoscopy in pigtail macaques.