Whole Animal

8 Whole Animal. - A review has been produced on metabolic and hormonal changes caused by irradiation. The article, which has 48 references, assesses the role of NMR in animal studies. 

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Investigations are carried out using a variety of biological systems, including observations on exposed whole animals in vivo studies) or on appropriately treated isolated tissues and cells, homogenates of tissues, or cultured lower organisms in vitro studies). 

Although it is possible to obtain cells from whole animals or plants and to cultivate them in suitable nutrient solutions, in general they are not as easy to handle as microbes. Nevertheless, plant and animal cells are a valuable genetic resource for biotechnology and many newly developed bioprocesses rely on transfer of their genes to micro-organisms. 

Cormier and Dure (1963) found another type of luciferin and called it protein-free luciferin. Protein-free luciferin was found in the vapor condensate of freeze-drying whole animals, and also in the 3 5-56 % ammonium sulfate fraction of the crude extract noted above. The protein-free luciferin behaved like an aromatic or heterocyclic compound and it was strongly adsorbed onto Sephadex and other chromatography media, requiring a considerable amount of solvent to elute it. The luminescence reaction of protein-free luciferin in the presence of luciferase required a 500-times higher concentration of H2O2 compared with the standard luciferin preparation. Both types of the luciferin preparation had a strong odor of iodoform. 

Controlled diet to brme shrimp +4.9 Whole animal Minagawa Wada 1984... 

The problem of potentiation was discussed earlier (Chapter 2, Section 2.5). Potentiation is often the consequence of interactions at the toxicokinetic level, especially inhibition of detoxication or increased activation. The consequences of such potentiation may be evident not only at the whole animal level but also in enhanced responses of biomarker assays that measure toxicity (Figure 13.3). By contrast, biomarkers of exposure alone are unlikely to give any indication of potentiation at the toxicokinetic level. 

This means that if all of the TCDD were retained, the level of TCDD would be less than 1 part per billion (ppb) in the whole animal. The lowest reported limit of detection for TCDD in whole tissue is 50 ppb (6). Thus, a guinea pig could be killed with TCDD, and it would be impossible to establish this fact with the analytical procedures in current use. 

Although there is considerable activity in developing computational toxicology for regulatory applications, the reality for the foreseeable future is that QSARs and related techniques are not yet sophisticated enough to replace whole animal testing. 

This has been estabhshed by experiments at the whole-animal level (eg, hepatectomy) and by use of the isolated perfused Hver preparation, of hver slices, of liver homogenates, and of in vitro translation systems using preparations of mRNA extracted from liver. However, the y-globulins are synthesized in plasma cells and certain plasma proteins are synthesized in other sites, such as endothelial cells. 

Differences in the equilibrium dissociation constant, K, for the binding of the various saxitoxins to the sodium channel binding site largely determine the differences in the potencies of the toxins in whole animal assays and in tissue preparations. 

Neurotransmitter receptors have evolved as one of the key components in the ability of the central nervous system to coordinate the behaviour of the whole animal, to process and respond to sensory input, and to adapt to change in the environment. These same receptors are therefore ideal targets for drug action because of their central role in the activity of the nervous system. A rational approach to the development of new therapeutic strategies involving the action of drugs at receptors in the nervous system is based on knowledge of receptor structure, distribution and function. 

It is unfortunate that typical concentrations of free-radical species present in biological systems are only at the limit of e.s.r. detection sensitivity and, of course, there are major technical difficulties in studying whole animals in this manner. Therefore, the most successful e.s.r. experiments have adopted the approach of spin trapping in which very reactive and thus transient radical species are converted to long-lived adducts via reaction with a trap such as a nitrone, e.g. Equation 1.1 ... 

Based on the fact that at 3 hours with a very low dose of MDMA, I saw an effect on the enzyme and no effect on the transmitter levels, we probably can t pay too much attention to that timecourse and expect to see changes that are identical to what you see in the whole animal with peripheral administration. That is what I would imagine. The experiments could be done, though. They are not that difficult. You just stick the cannulas in and infuse. 

Note Some of the above doses are presented as mg/kg doses, whereas others are presented as total mg doses for the whole animal. Source From Ref. 8, with some modification as to recommended dosing frequency in felines. 

By far, the most suitable method to quantify individual ruminant animal CH4 measurement is by using respiration chamber, or calorimetry. The respiration chamber models include whole animal chambers, head boxes, or ventilated hoods and face masks. These methods have been effectively used to collect information pertaining to CH4 emissions in livestock. The predominant use of calorimeters has been in energy balance experiments where CH4 has been estimated as a part of the procedures followed. Although there are various designs available, open-circuit calorimeter has been the one widely used. There are various designs of calorimeters, but the most common one is the open-circuit calorimeter, in which outside air is circulated around the animal s head, mouth, and nose and expired air is collected for further analysis. 

An interesting imaging probe Id that can selectively target bacteria was recently reported by Smith et al. [31] also based on a heptamethine chromophore. The probe is composed of a bacterial affinity group, which is a synthetic zinc (II) coordination complex that targets the anionic surfaces of bacterial cells and a near infrared dye. The probe allowed detection of Staphylococcus aureus in a mouse leg infection model using whole animal near-infrared fluorescence imaging. 

With animal viruses, the initial host may be a whole animal which is susceptible to the virus, but for research purposes it is desirable to have a more convenient host. Many animal viruses can be cultivated in tissue or cell cultures, and the use of such cultures has enormously facilitated research on animal viruses. 

Animal infectivity methods Some viruses do not cause recognizable effects in cell cultures but cause death in the whole animal. In such cases, quantification can only be done by some sort of titration in infected animals. The general procedure is to carry out a serial dilution of the unknown sample, generally at ten-fold dilutions, and samples of each dilution are injected into numbers of sensitive animals. After a suitable incubation period, the fraction of dead and live animals at each dilution is tabulated and an end point dilution is calculated. This is the dilution at which, for example, half of the injected animals die. Although such serial dilution methods are much more cumbersome and much less accurate than cell culture methods, they may be essential for the study of certain types of viruses. 

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