(Press-News.org) The widespread practice of allowing laboratory rats and mice to eat as much as they want may be affecting the outcome of experiments in which scientists use these "test-tubes-on-four-feet" to test new drugs and other substances for toxicity and other effects. That's the conclusion of a new analysis published in ACS' journal Chemical Research in Toxicology.
Laboratory mice and rats serve as stand-ins for people for research that cannot be done on humans. In the article, Gale Carey and Lisa Merrill point out that the millions of lab rodents used in laboratory studies each year have a nutritional status that is different from other test animals. While other test animals are fed meals, rodents have round-the-clock access to food. And eat they do, gaining more weight and more body fat than meal-fed rodents. The authors cite other research indicating that lab rodents with free access to food tend to develop abnormally high blood fat levels, high cholesterol, nerve and heart damage, cancer and other disorders.
Their analysis of 54 studies concluded that having free access to food is likely to affect the results of tests for the toxicity and cancer-causing effects of new drugs and other substances in rodents, and could be the reason why such studies have been varying so much in recent years. "Therefore, it is crucial that feeding regimen be carefully considered in designing toxicology experiments," say the authors.
###
The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 164,000 members, ACS is the world's largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.
To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org.
All-they-can-eat diet for lab mice and rats may foster inaccurate test results
2012-07-19
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Enhanced royal jelly produces jumbo queen bee larvae
2012-07-19
Scientists have discovered a way to make worker bees produce an enhanced version of royal jelly (RJ) – the super-nutritious substance that dictates whether larvae become workers or queens, and that is also renowned as a health supplement for people. Their study, which found that the super RJ that makes queen bee larvae grow 2-3 times larger than normal, appears in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
Chia-Nan Chen and colleagues explain that royal jelly is a thick liquid made up of proteins, sugars and fats that is secreted by glands in the throats and jaws ...
The taste and fragrance of orange, vanilla, rose and more — courtesy of bacteria and yeast
2012-07-19
Suppliers of the orange, vanilla and other flavor and fragrance ingredients used in hundreds of foods, beverages and personal care products are putting their faith in microbes as new sources for these substances. That migration away from the natural plant oils used for centuries to delight the taste buds and nose is the topic of a story in the current edition of Chemical & Engineering News. C&EN is the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society.
Melody M. Bomgardner, C&EN senior business editor, points out that manufacturers ...
Botanical compound could prove crucial to healing influenza
2012-07-19
Building on previous work with the botanical abscisic acida, researchers in the Nutritional Immunology and Molecular Medicine Laboratory (NIMML) have discovered that abscisic acid has anti-inflammatory effects in the lungs as well as in the gut. The results will be published in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry.
"While the immune effects of abscisic acid are well understood in the gut, less was known about its effects in the respiratory tract. We've shown definitively that not only does abscisic acid ameliorate disease activity and lung inflammatory pathology, it ...
Social identification, not obedience, might motivate unspeakable acts
2012-07-19
What makes soldiers abuse prisoners? How could Nazi officials condemn thousands of Jews to gas chamber deaths? What's going on when underlings help cover up a financial swindle? For years, researchers have tried to identify the factors that drive people to commit cruel and brutal acts and perhaps no one has contributed more to this knowledge than psychological scientist Stanley Milgram.
Just over 50 years ago, Milgram embarked on what were to become some of the most famous studies in psychology. In these studies, which ostensibly examined the effects of punishment on ...
Special issue of Cell Transplantation features research presented at IANR
2012-07-19
Putnam Valley, NY. (July 18 , 2012) – Meeting in Amman, Jordan April 27-30, 2011, members of the International Association of Neurorestoratology (IANR) presented research aimed at improving the lives of people with neurological conditions such as amytrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), spinal cord injury, cerebral palsy, stroke and muscular dystrophy through a variety of therapies, including cell transplantation. The field of neurorestoratology has emerged as a new discipline in neuroscience, exploring the impact of cell transplantation and other factors on neurological recovery.
This ...
Helping Alzheimer's patients stay independent
2012-07-19
Family members or professional caregivers who do everything for older adults with Alzheimer's disease may just be wanting to help, but one University of Alberta researcher says that creating excess dependency may rob the patients of their independence and self-worth.
U of A psychologist Tiana Rust, who recently completed her doctoral program, says her research indicated that caregivers adopted a "dependency support script," assuming control of tasks they believed patients seemed no longer capable of doing for themselves. She says this model shows that the caregivers' ...
New targeting technology improves outcomes for patients with atrial fibrillation
2012-07-19
In a landmark study of atrial fibrillation, researchers from UCLA, UC San Diego and Indiana University report having found for the first time that these irregular heart rhythms are caused by small electrical sources within the heart, in the form of electrical spinning tops ("rotors") or focal beats.
Importantly, they found a way of detecting these key electrical sources and of shutting them down in minutes using a precisely targeted therapy with long-lasting results.
The team, which included cardiologists, physicists and bioengineers, reports the findings in the ...
Single-cell parasites co-opt 'ready-made' genes from host: UBC research
2012-07-19
Two species of single-cell parasites have co-opted "ready-made" genes from their hosts that in turn help them exploit their hosts, according to a new study by University of British Columbia and University of Ottawa researchers.
Part of a group of parasitic microbes called microsporidia, Encephalitozoon hellem and Encephalitozoon romaleae are related to fungi and are commonly found in the intestines of vertebrates. In humans, they are associated with people with immune deficiencies.
The research team identified six genes in these parasites that were not found in any ...
ACS: White House Initiative to create a national corps of STEM teachers is vital
2012-07-19
WASHINGTON, July 18, 2012 –– The American Chemical Society (ACS) applauds a White House initiative unveiled yesterday to create a national corps of 10,000 master teachers in the next four years who are exceptional in teaching science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) subjects.
"Teaching STEM subjects is most effectively achieved by teachers who are masters in the field," said ACS President Bassam Z. Shakhashiri, Ph.D. "To really teach our kids science, math, and engineering it is imperative that teachers have deep knowledge in the discipline itself. I am pleased ...
NASA sees Tropical Storm Khanun weakening for South Korea landfall
2012-07-19
Infrared imagery of Tropical Storm Khanun shows that the storm is weakening as it heads toward a landfall in the Chungcheongnam-do province of western South Korea. Khanun is already bringing rainfall and stirring up seas around southwestern South Korea.
When NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Tropical Storm Khanun on July 18 at 0459 UTC (12:59 a.m. EDT), the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument captured temperature data on cloud tops. Infrared imagery from the AIRS instrument showed that convection (rising air that forms thunderstorms that make up a tropical ...