Care, management, and use of ferrets in biomedical research.

The ferret (Mustela putorius furo) is a small domesticated species of the family Mustelidae within the order Carnivora. The present article reviews and discusses the current state of knowledge about housing, care, breeding, and biomedical uses of ferrets. The management and breeding procedures of ferrets resemble those used for other carnivores. Understanding its behavior helps in the use of environmental enrichment and social housing, which promote behaviors typical of the species. Ferrets have been used in research since the beginning of the twentieth century. It is a suitable non-rodent model in biomedical research because of its hardy nature, social behavior, diet and other habits, small size, and thus the requirement of a relatively low amount of test compounds and early sexual maturity compared with dogs and non-human primates. Ferrets and humans have numerous similar anatomical, metabolic, and physiological characteristics, including the endocrine, respiratory, auditory, gastrointestinal, and immunological systems. It is one of the emerging animal models used in studies such as influenza and other infectious respiratory diseases, cystic fibrosis, lung cancer, cardiac research, gastrointestinal disorders, neuroscience, and toxicological studies. Ferrets are vulnerable to many human pathogenic organisms, like severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), because air transmission of this virus between them has been observed in the laboratory. Ferrets draw the attention of the medical community compared to rodents because they occupy a distinct niche in biomedical studies, although they possess a small representation in laboratory research.

Japanese encephalitis virus induces vasodilation and severe lethality in adult and aged AG129 mice lacking alpha, beta and gamma interferon receptors.

Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is a single-stranded positive-sense RNA virus belonging to the Flaviviridae family. The JEV is the leading cause of viral encephalitis in children and the elderly which is spread by mosquitoes. JEV infection has been established in different animal models such as mouse, hamster, guinea pig, swine, rat, monkey, rabbit by using the different routes of inoculations. Here, we have shown that the alpha/beta and gamma -receptor deficient AG129 mouse induces fatal encephalitis in both young and aged old mice, when challenged with high titer JEV Indian clinical isolate by both intraperitoneal and intradermal route. The JEV infected AG129 mouse have shown neurological symptoms, JEV-induced pathological features and supported high level viral replication. Additionally, administration of JEV in AG129 mice resulted in the induction of severe peripheral vascular permeability, which is a major hall mark of Dengue infection but not shown in JEV. Taken together, our results demonstrate interferon α/ß and γ receptors knock out AG129 mouse does not need adaptation of JEV clinical isolates and could be is a promising JEV challenge mouse model by mimicking the natural intradermal route of administration for rapid screening of novel antivirals and vaccines.

Isolation, Characterization, and In Vitro Culturing of Spermatogonial Stem Cells in Japanese Quail (Coturnix japonica).

We reported previously testis-mediated germline chimera production and characterization of germline stem cell-like cells from chicken testes. The present study aimed to establish an in vitro system for culture of quail spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) for practical applications in germline preservation and transgenesis. Testicular cells (TCs) from juvenile (4 weeks old) or adult (8 weeks old) quail testis were isolated using sequential enzymatic digestion. The percentages of viability of isolated TCs were 91.00% ± 2.12% and 88.00% ± 1.87% in juvenile and adult testes, respectively, and immunohistochemical evaluation indicated the expression of integrin alpha-6 (ITGA6), GDNF family receptor alpha-1 (GFRA1), and Deleted in azoospermia-like (DAZL) in specific TCs. SSCs were purified by differential plating of TCs and then subjected to quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, which showed differential expression of SSC-specific, and germness and stemness-related genes. Coculture of quail SSCs with mouse embryonic fibroblasts and Sertoli cells as a feeder layer resulted in the generation of stable SSC colonies and short-term cultivation, and the expression of SSC and germ cell markers was maintained during several passages of culture. Collectively, these results demonstrate the efficient isolation and characterization of quail SSCs and the suitability of Sertoli cells as a feeder layer for in vitro culture of quail SSCs. Quail SSCs will facilitate the production of germline chimeras and transgenesis.