Seroconversion of 1-year-old Mice to Murine Norovirus

Abstract

Rodent sentinel screening for adventitious pathogens is an integral part of many biomedical research institutes and universities that use rodents in research. Typical screening programs involving live sentinel animals typically purchase young SPF sentinel animals that are sampled and replaced quarterly. Previous reports suggest that mice as old as 6 mo are effective sentinels for various agents. In efforts to reduce the number of animals used in our sentinel program, we wanted to investigate the possibility of keeping sentinel animals inhouse for 12 mo at a time. We exposed mice (age, 40 to 48 wk) to murine norovirus (MNV) to test whether they could reliably produce detectable levels of antibodies (similar to younger mice) to this adventitious pathogen. Mice first exposed to MNV at 40 to 48 wk of age seroconverted to MNV after both direct inoculation (through gavage) and indirect exposure (from soiled-bedding transfer) at the same or greater frequency than mice first exposed at 8 to 12 wk of age. These findings indicate that, at least for MNV, sentinel residence time can be extended from 3 to 12 mo without compromising the reliability of seroconversion, thus ultimately reducing sentinel animal numbers. This practice, combined with nonanimal testing modalities (for example, exhaust duct sampling), can increase the sensitivity and specificity of rodent surveillance programs and minimize the use of live animals.

Assessment of the Ameliorative and Antihyperglycemic Effects of Fractions of Ipomoea aquatica in Male Rats with Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetes

“…5) showed that all plasma samples, including control, STZ-induced hyperglycemic, T1, and T2, had similar protein composition, including ankyrin (200 kDa), IgG (150 kDa), nephrine (136 kDa), IDE (112 kDa), albumin (65 kDa), prealbumin (55 kDa), CICP (43 kDa), ApoA-V (39 kDa), GAPDH (35 kDa), C-RP (28.3 kDa), leptin (17 kDa), and apelin (16 kDa). The protein composition observed in this study is consistent with the protein types found in normal blood plasma, where albumin and globulin (α1, α2, β, and γ) are the major components [45].…”

Safety and Biodistribution of Nanoligomers Targeting the SARS-CoV-2 Genome for the Treatment of COVID-19

“…Mice appeared healthy and active, with no noticeable changes in the behavior or appearance as a result of the treatment. Albumin levels in the serum, which are an indicator of hepatic and renal health, 55,56 were not significantly reduced in treatment groups compared to control groups administered with phosphate buffered saline (PBS) (Figures 3A and S4A).…”

Effects of Polymer 3D Architecture, Size, and Chemistry on Biological Transport and Drug Delivery In Vitro and in Orthotopic Triple Negative Breast Cancer Models

“…[ 75 ] Two concentrations of BSA in solution were assayed; 0.2 wt%, which is representative of the protein concentration within DMEM culture media with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS), [ 76,77 ] and 1 wt% to mimic the protein concentration in animal models. [ 78 ] It could be seen at the 0.2 wt% BSA concentration that all nanoparticles were stable to aggregation after 24 h incubation at 37 °C, with minimal observable changes in the DLS trace by volume over the course of the experiment ( Figure C; Figure S5, Supporting Information). At the higher concentration of 1 wt%, a similar stability was confirmed for all architectures, with the exception of the Linear‐SS.…”