Animal models, organ

The principal organs involved in the peripheral clearance of hGH from the plasma are the kidney and fiver. hGH is cleared via glomerular filtration at the kidney and by a receptor-mediated mechanism at the fiver (58,59). In animal models, derivatives of hGH such as the 20,000 mol wt variant, oligomeric forms, and hGH complexed with GH-binding protein have been shown to be cleared from the semm at significandy lower rates than 22,000 mol wt hGH (60—62). The prolonged plasma half-life of these derivatives probably reflects a combination of decreased receptor affinity and size constraints on glomerular filtration. 

A number of diflFerent animal models of uveitis have been developed) including that induced by organ-specific ocular antigens such as retinal S-antigen, rhodopsin and lens protein (Wacker et al., 1977 Rao et al., 1979). Other models are based on the injection of proteins foreign to the host, such as intravitreal injections of albumin or 7-globulin (Zimmerman and Silverstein, 1959 Kaplan etal., 1979). More recently, a third group of models has been developed based on the injection of inflammatory mediators such as interleukins-1 and 2, and tumour necrosis factor (Bhattacherjee and Henderson, 1987 ... 

Steps 7-10 involved the selection of animal models, islet isolation and the testing of the polymer microcapsules as bioartificial organs. This has been discussed elsewhere [61,62]. 

Genetically predisposed animals or induced animal models may also be used to study and predict chemical-induced autoimmunity. In induced models, a susceptible animal strain is immunized with a mixture of an adjuvant and an autoantigen isolated from the target organ. Examples are adjuvant arthritis (AA), experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE) and experimental uveitis in the Lewis strain rat. Examples of spontaneous models... 

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