Cryopreservation and orthotopic transplantation of rat ovaries.

The number of rat strains increased considerably in the last decade and will increase continuously during the next years. This requires enough space for maintaining vital strains and techniques for cryobanking, which can be applied not only in specialised rat resource centres but also in regular animal houses. Here we describe an easy and fast method for the cryopreservation and transplantation of frozen-thawed ovaries of the rat.

Genetic dissection of granulomatous enterocolitis and arthritis in the intramural peptidoglycan-polysaccharide-treated rat model of IBD.

Background: Inflammatory arthropathies are common extraintestinal manifestations of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). As genetic susceptibility plays an important role in the etiology of IBD, we questioned how granulomatous enterocolitis and arthritis are genetically controlled in an experimental animal model displaying both conditions.

Methods: Chronic intestinal and systemic inflammation was induced by intramural injection of peptidoglycan-polysaccharide (PG-PS) polymers in the ileocecal region of female F2 progeny derived from susceptible LEW and resistant F344 rats.

CpG motifs of bacterial DNA exert protective effects in mouse models of IBD by antigen-independent tolerance induction.

Background & Aims: Prophylactic treatment of mice with CpG motifs of bacterial DNA protects from experimental inflammatory bowel disease, at least partly via induction of inhibitory T-cells. The aim of this study was to elucidate whether these CpG-dependent protective effects require presence of bacterial flora suggesting antigen-specific regulatory activity.

Methods: Germ-free BALB/c and IL-10(-/-) mice were treated with CpG-oligodeoxynucleotides (ODN), control-ODN, or PBS.

Klebsiella oxytoca: opportunistic infections in laboratory rodents.

Opportunistic pathogens have become increasingly relevant as the causative agents of clinical disease and pathological lesions in laboratory animals. This study was conducted to evaluate the role of Klebsiella oxytoca as an opportunistic pathogen in laboratory rodents. Therefore, K.

Sensitivity to Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 in mice is dependent on environment and genetic background.

Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 (EcN) is a well-characterized probiotic bacterium. Although genomic comparisons of EcN with the uropathogenic E. coli strain CFT073 revealed high degrees of similarity, EcN is generally considered a non-pathogenic organism.

Rederivation of Helicobacter hepaticus-infected Mongolian gerbils by Caesarean section and cross-fostering to rats and mice.

The Mongolian gerbil serves as an animal model for a wide range of diseases. As these animals are extensively used for the study of Helicobacter pylori-induced gastritis, naturally occurring infections with rodent Helicobacter species in gerbils are a possible source of interference in studies of H. pylori-associated disease.

Environment as a critical factor for the pathogenesis and outcome of gastrointestinal disease: experimental and human inflammatory bowel disease and helicobacter-induced gastritis.

Environmental factors play an important role in the manifestation, course, and prognosis of diseases of the gastrointestinal tract such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and Helicobacter pylori-induced gastritis. These two disease complexes were chosen for a discussion of the contribution of environmental factors to the disease outcome in humans and animal models. Dissecting complex diseases like IBD and Helicobacter-induced gastritis has shown that the outcome of disease depends on the allelic constellation of a host and the microbial and physical environments.

Experimental Helicobacter pylori infection induces antral-predominant, chronic active gastritis in hispid cotton rats (Sigmodon hispidus).

Background: The hispid cotton rat has proven to be an excellent animal model for a variety of human infectious disease agents. This study was performed to evaluate the use of the cotton rat as a model of Helicobacter pylori infection.

Materials And Methods: Thirty-eight inbred cotton rats were orogastrically inoculated with a human strain of H.

Multiple in vivo passages enhance the ability of a clinical Helicobacter pylori isolate to colonize the stomach of Mongolian gerbils and to induce gastritis.

The Mongolian gerbil is an excellent animal model for Helicobacter pylori-induced gastritis in humans. In this study, initially low colonization rates of the H. pylori strains ATCC 43504, SS1, or HP87 inoculated into gerbils caused difficulties in establishing this model.

Refined histopathologic scoring system improves power to detect colitis QTL in mice.

Induction of colitis in mice by a targeted mutation in the I110 gene is inbred strain dependent. C3H/ HeJBir (C3H) mice are colitis susceptible while C57BL/6J (B6) mice are resistant. Identification of quantitative trait loci (QTL) determining the differential strain responsiveness requires histopathologic scoring of multiple lesion subphenotypes in both cecum and colon.

Genetics of colitis susceptibility in IL-10-deficient mice: backcross versus F2 results contrasted by principal component analysis.

Interleukin-10-deficient (Il10(-/-)) mice on a C3H/HeJBir genetic background develop more severe colitis than those on a C57BL/6J background. We performed genome screens for quantitative trait loci (QTLs) regulating colitis susceptibility in this model system using two first backcross populations derived from these two strains. To reduce the complexity of this analysis, the information from numerous histologic phenotypes was summarized by principal component analysis.

Differential susceptibility of inbred mouse strains to Helicobacter pylori infection.

Background: Host factors play an important part in the pathogenesis of Helicobacter pylori-associated disease. The aim of this study was to screen various inbred strains of mice for genetic differences in susceptibility to H. pylori infection.

Granulomatous inflammation in the tails of mice associated with Mycobacterium chelonae infection.

This report describes a case series of granulomatous inflammation in the tails of seven immunocompromised mice. The disease was associated with Mycobacterium chelonae infection. The source and route of infection remained unclear.