Establishment of the CCl4 mouse model allows preclinical testing of your new anti-fibrotic drugs. Liver fibrosis occurs in most types of chronic liver diseases. In humans, researchers were already able to show that liver fibrosis is reversible, fostering the development of anti-fibrotic drugs. To test the efficacy of these new drugs, proper preclinical models are … Read more
Newest results of our R&D team at Scantox validate severe and very early motor deficits in hA53Ttg mice, making this model well-suited for preclinical Parkinson’s disease (PD) research. PD belongs to the most devastating neurodegenerative diseases of the 21st century. The development of new drugs halting disease progression is therefore the main focus of PD … Read more
To simplify dendritic spine analysis, our histology and IT team joined forces and developed a macro-based image analysis for rater-independent, unbiased, fast, and efficient automated dendritic spine quantification. Brain sections are stained by the Golgi-Cox method. For spine density analysis, Z-stack images are taken using 63x oil lens, and stacks are collapsed using Zeiss ZEN … Read more
Newest results of our student’s FFG-funded PhD thesis at Scantox in cooperation with Prof. Marcello Leopoldo from the University of Bari, Italy, confirms the value of Fmr1-knockout (KO) mice to model neurobehavioral deficits manifested in fragile X syndrome. Fragile X syndrome is the most commonly inherited form of intellectual disability and a monogenic cause of … Read more
In her FFG-funded PhD thesis at Scantox in cooperation with Prof. Marcello Leopoldo from the University of Bari, Italy, Shirin Sharghi behaviorally characterized the BTBR T+ Itpr3tf/J mouse model of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). BTBR T+ Itpr3tf/J mice were allocated to three different treatment groups of either LP-211 (a serotonergic compound), R-Baclofen (a GABAergic drug) … Read more
The glycogen storage disease type II (GSD II) is a rare, multisystemic disease with variable rates of disease progression that is also called Pompe disease. It is caused by alterations in the acid α-glucosidase (GAA) gene, resulting in reduced levels of this enzyme that in turn leads to a reduced degradation and thus accumulation of … Read more
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is characterized by reduced dopamine levels in the striatum causing severe motor deficits. Patients are thus often treated with L-DOPA, the precursor of catecholamines, including dopamine, but positive effects of this treatment fade with prolonged treatment resulting in dyskinesia. To model this priming effect of L-DOPA treatment in vivo, Wistar Han rats … Read more
In his PhD project, Joshua Adekunle Babalola from the Medical University of Graz investigates the effect of astaxanthin on Aβ clearance and the functional consequences thereof. Transport across the blood-brain barrier (BBB) is an important mediator of beta-amyloid (Aβ) accumulation in the brain and a contributing factor in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). One … Read more
The importance of microglia, the resident brain macrophages, in neurodegenerative diseases is well-known and these cells are therefore frequently used as a target for new pharmacological interventions. At Scantox, cell isolation of early postnatal microglia from mice is a well-established and standardized method for in vitro analysis of this specific cell type. In addition, we … Read more
In her FFG-funded PhD thesis in cooperation with Ludwig Aigner of the Paracelsus University, Salzburg, Austria, Katharina Strempfl currently investigates whether leukotriene inhibition can improve motor impairments in Line 61 mice. Katharina treated Line 61 and non-transgenic (ntg) littermates daily with an oral film (IntelGenx Technologies) containing Montelukast, a cysteinyl leukotriene receptor antagonist that is … Read more
People’s diet can strongly influence their health and wellbeing. Certain diet ingredients can even affect the onset and progression of some diseases. Feeding mice with a special diet can therefore be used to analyze the effect of a diet or dietary component on typical disease pathologies. Depending on the genetic background of mice used for … Read more
Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) shows many pathological similarities to Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and is therefore often used as model to mimic MS by injecting Myelin-Oligodendrocyte-Glycoprotein (MOG) in combination with pertussis toxin (PTX). C57Bl/6 mice develop clinical signs about two weeks after MOG + PTX treatment. Fingolimod (Fingo) was able to reduce clinical signs reaching significance … Read more
