Background: The effects of exercise on brain function are widely known; however, there is a need for inexpensive, practical solutions for monitoring and metering the activity of multiple mice.
New Method: A contoured running wheel that has a built-in radio-frequency identification (RFID) receiver to monitor the activity of several mice in a single cage is presented. This system is scalable , the interface is easy to use, and the wheel can be dynamically locked so that each group-housed mouse receives a set exercise regimen.
Results: We were able to reliably monitor three mice that were group-housed. We were able to reliably meter the amount of exercise performed by the mice using the servo-controlled lock.
Comparison With Existing Methods: Current methods allow a wheel to be locked when a set distance is reached. However, an issue with this method is that the set distance includes the cumulative activity of all mice in the cage so one mouse could contribute a disproportionate amount to the total distance. Our solution ensures that the wheel is locked when an individual mouse reaches the target distance, but remains unlocked for individuals that have not reached the programmed distance.
Conclusions: The dynamic locking wheel (DynaLok) is designed to allow a researcher to provide individually designed exercise plans for multi-housed mice; therefore, users are able to house mice conventionally rather than in individual cages. DynaLok reduces animal housing costs, allows for new experimental exercise regimens to be developed, and is scalable and cost-effective.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
---|---|
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jneumeth.2019.108482 | DOI Listing |
Elife
December 2024
Laboratory of Immunoregulation and Mucosal Immunology, VIB Center for Inflammation Research, Ghent, Belgium.
Since the precursor frequency of naive T cells is extremely low, investigating the early steps of antigen-specific T cell activation is challenging. To overcome this detection problem, adoptive transfer of a cohort of T cells purified from T cell receptor (TCR) transgenic donors has been extensively used but is not readily available for emerging pathogens. Constructing TCR transgenic mice from T cell hybridomas is a labor-intensive and sometimes erratic process, since the best clones are selected based on antigen-induced CD69 upregulation or IL-2 production in vitro, and TCR chains are polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-cloned into expression vectors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS Pathog
January 2025
Institute of Pediatric Infection, Immunity, and Critical Care Medicine, Shanghai Children's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
Function-to-find domain (FIIND)-containing proteins, including NLRP1 and CARD8, are vital components of the inflammasome signaling pathway, critical for the innate immune response. These proteins exist in various forms due to autoproteolysis within the FIIND domain, resulting in full-length (FL), cleaved N-terminal (NT), and cleaved C-terminal (CT) peptides, which form autoinhibitory complexes in the steady state. However, the detailed mechanism remains elusive.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Adv
January 2025
Institute of Molecular Immunology, School of Laboratory Medicine and Biotechnology, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
S-Palmitoylation is a reversible post-translational modification involving saturated fatty acid palmitate-to-cysteine linkage in the protein, which guides many aspects of macrophage physiology in health and disease. However, the precise role and underlying mechanisms of palmitoylation in infection of macrophages remain elusive. Here, we found that infection induced the expression of zinc-finger DHHC domain-type palmitoyl-transferases (ZDHHCs), particularly ZDHHC2, in mouse macrophages.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS One
January 2025
Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt.
This study identifies the secondary metabolites from Alternaria alternate and evaluates their ACE-2: Spike RBD (SARS-CoV-2) inhibitory activity confirmed via immunoblotting in human lung microvascular endothelial cells. In addition, their in vitro anti-inflammatory potential was assessed using a cell-based assay in LPS-treated RAW 264.7 macrophage cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS One
January 2025
Institute of Medical Microbiology and Hospital Hygiene, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany.
Guanylate binding proteins (GBPs) are large interferon-inducible GTPases, executing essential host defense activities against Toxoplasma gondii, an invasive intracellular apicomplexan protozoan parasite of global importance. T. gondii establishes a parasitophorous vacuole (PV) which shields the parasite from the host's intracellular defense mechanisms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!