Quantitative in vivo micro-computed tomography for monitoring disease activity and treatment response in a collagen-induced arthritis mouse model.

A painful, chronic condition, Rheumatoid Arthritis, is marked by bone erosion and soft tissue swelling at the joint. As treatments are investigated in pre-clinical models, characterizing disease progression is integral to assessing treatment efficacy. Here, in vivo and ex vivo micro-computed tomography (µCT) are used in parallel with traditional caliper score measurement to quantify physiological changes in the tarsal region in a murine, collagen-induced arthritis model. In vivo imaging methods, which are validated here through comparison to ex vivo and caliper methods, afford longitudinal analysis of both bone and soft tissue through a single image acquisition. This method removes the subjectivity of swelling quantification which is inherently associated with traditional caliper measurements. Histopathology offers an additional assessment of bone erosion and inflammation by providing a microscopic characterization of disease activity. In comparison to untreated animals, daily prednisolone (glucocorticoid) treatment is shown to restore bone volume, as reflected through in vivo and ex vivo µCT images, as well as histopathology. Prednisolone-associated reduction in inflammation is shown through in vivo µCT soft tissue volume measurements, paw caliper measurements, and histopathology. The findings reported here provide a comprehensive validation of in vivo µCT with a sensitivity that enables characterization of pre-clinical disease assessment in response to treatment in a murine, collagen-induced arthritis model.

Epithelial dysfunction is prevented by IL-22 treatment in a Citrobacter rodentium-induced colitis model that shares similarities with inflammatory bowel disease.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is characterized by a dysregulated intestinal epithelial barrier leading to breach of barrier immunity. Here we identified similar protein expression changes between IBD and Citrobacter rodentium-infected FVB mice with respect to dysregulation of solute transporters as well as components critical for intestinal barrier integrity. We attribute the disease associated changes in the model to the emergence of undifferentiated intermediate intestinal epithelial cells. Prophylactic treatment with IL-22.Fc in C. rodentium-infected FVB mice reduced disease severity and rescued the mice from lethality. Multi-omics and solute analyses revealed that IL-22.Fc treatment prevented disease-associated changes including disruption of the solute transporter machinery and restored proper physiological functions of the intestine, respectively. Taken together, we established the disease relevance of the C. rodentium-induced colitis model to IBD, demonstrated the protective role of IL-22 in amelioration of epithelial dysfunction and elucidated the molecular mechanisms with IL-22's effect on intestinal epithelial cells.

Light microscopic sciatic nerve changes in control beagle dogs from toxicity studies.

Although the dog is a common choice among nonrodent species in evaluation of compound safety for regulatory submission, information regarding the incidence of spontaneous or incidental microscopic changes in canine peripheral nerve is limited. A retrospective examination was performed of routine histologic preparations of sciatic nerve from eighty-one control dogs in toxicity studies ranging from ten days to three months in duration. Spontaneous background changes included digestion chambers, foci of vacuolation, nerve fibers circumscribed by proliferating Schwann cells (bands of Büngner), and small foci of myelin aggregation. The latter accounted for 91% of the microscopic changes and were noted in all sections examined. These changes were quantified, and the number per square millimeter of evaluable nerve tissue was determined for each slide. Densities of foci varied among the slides examined; no age- or sex-related trends were apparent. In addition, anatomic features of peripheral nerves including nodes of Ranvier, Schmidt-Lanterman incisures, Renaut bodies, and effects resulting from sectioning plane were noted. By demonstrating the range of effects observed within control animals, these observations provide a basis for recognition of possible compound-related effects in routine nerve preparations from dogs included in toxicity studies.

Near infrared readouts offer sensitive and rapid assessments of intestinal permeability and disease severity in inflammatory bowel disease models.

Intestinal permeability and neutrophil activity are closely linked to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) pathophysiology. Here we discuss two techniques for assessing permeability and neutrophil activity in mouse IBD models using near infrared (NIR) detection. To address the limitation of visible light readouts-namely high background-IRDye 800CW was used to enable rapid, non-terminal measurements of intestinal permeability. The increased sensitivity of NIR readouts for colon permeability is shown using dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) and anti-CD40 murine colitis models in response to interleukin-22 immunoglobulin Fc (IL22Fc) fusion protein and anti-p40 monoclonal antibody treatments, respectively. In addition to enhanced permeability, elevated levels of neutrophil elastase (NE) have been reported in inflamed colonic mucosal tissue. Activatable NIR fluorescent probes have been extensively used for disease activity evaluation in oncologic animal models, and we demonstrate their translatability using a NE-activatable reagent to evaluate inflammation in DSS mice. Confocal laser endomicroscopy (CLE) and tissue imaging allow visualization of spatial NE activity throughout diseased colon as well as changes in disease severity from IL22Fc treatment. Our findings with the 800CW dye and the NE probe highlight the ease of their implementation in preclinical IBD research.