International Journal of Molecular Sciences

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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Preclinical studies have always represented, and will continue to represent, one of the pillars of medical progress. From William Harvey’s description of blood circulation to the elucidation of mechanisms that underly atherosclerosis, cardiac arrhythmias, or heart failure, and to the development of heart transplantation, valve replacement, or coronary artery bypass grafting, all major medical breakthroughs have relied on studies performed in laboratory animals. Whether we are talking about the elucidation of physiological or pathophysiological mechanisms, the identification of new therapeutic targets, the evaluation of the efficacy and safety of new therapeutic strategies, or simply the organ and tissue resources that they represent, animals are indisputably an invaluable resource for progress in human medicine. Unfortunately, for numerous reasons, not all results obtained in animal studies end up being confirmed in humans. Choosing the right animal species, using the adequate model, and applying a rigorous methodology and statistical tests are therefore critical in animal experimentation.

For this Special Issue, we invite both original research articles and reviews that provide readers of IJMS with novel data regarding the most relevant animal models used in biomedical research.

Prof. Dr. Alina Scridon
Guest Editor

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Related Special Issue

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 3628 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Antidepressant-like Effects of Chinese Quince (Chaenomeles sinensis) Fruit Based on In Vivo and Molecular Docking Studies

by Dong Wook Lim, Guijae Yoo, Yun Tai Kim and Changho Lee

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2024, 25(11), 5838; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms25115838 - 27 May 2024

Viewed by 201

Abstract

In this study, we examined the potential antidepressant-like effects of Chinese quince fruit extract (Chaenomeles sinensis fruit extract, CSFE) in an in vivo model induced by repeated injection of corticosterone (CORT)-induced depression. HPLC analysis determined that chlorogenic acid (CGA), neo-chlorogenic acid (neo-CGA), and rutin (RT) compounds were major constituents in CSFE. Male ICR mice (5 weeks old) were orally administered various doses (30, 100, and 300 mg/kg) of CSFE and selegiline (10 mg/kg), a monoamine oxidase B (MAO-B) inhibitor, as a positive control following daily intraperitoneal injections of CORT (40 mg/kg) for 21 days. In our results, mice treated with CSFE exhibited significant improvements in depressive-like behaviors induced by CORT. This was evidenced by reduced immobility times in the tail suspension test and forced swim test, as well as increased step-through latency times in the passive avoidance test. Indeed, mice treated with CSFE also exhibited a significant decrease in anxiety-like behaviors as measured by the elevated plus maze test. Moreover, molecular docking analysis indicated that CGA and neo-CGA from CSFE had stronger binding to the active site of MAO-B. Our results indicate that CSFE has potential antidepressant effects in a mouse model of repeated injections of CORT-induced depression. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Animal Models in Biomedical Research, 2nd Edition)

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19 pages, 1600 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Influence of a High-Cholesterol Diet and Forced Training on Lipid Metabolism and Intestinal Microbiota in Male Wistar Rats

by Yuliya S. Sidorova, Nikita A. Petrov, Yuliya M. Markova, Alexey I. Kolobanov and Sergey N. Zorin

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2024, 25(10), 5383; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms25105383 - 15 May 2024

Viewed by 295

Abstract

Adequate experimental animal models play an important role in an objective assessment of the effectiveness of medicines and functional foods enriched with biologically active substances. The aim of our study was a comparative assessment of the effect of consumption of 1 or 2% cholesterol with and without regular (two times a week), moderate running exercise on the main biomarkers of lipid and cholesterol metabolism, as well as the intestinal microbiota of male Wistar rats. In experimental rats, a response of 39 indicators (body weight, food consumption, serum biomarkers, liver composition, and changes in intestinal microbiota) was revealed. Total serum cholesterol level increased 1.8 times in animals consuming cholesterol with a simultaneous increase in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (2 times) and decrease in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (1.3 times) levels compared to the control animals. These animals had 1.3 times increased liver weight, almost 5 times increased triglycerides level, and more than 6 times increased cholesterol content. There was a tendency towards a decrease in triglycerides levels against the background of running exercise. The consumption of cholesterol led to a predominance of the Bacteroides family, due to a decrease in F. prausnitzii (1.2 times) and bifidobacteria (1.3 times), as well as an increase in Escherichia family (1.2 times). The running exercise did not lead to the complete normalization of microbiota. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Animal Models in Biomedical Research, 2nd Edition)

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