Lab AnimalPub Date : 2025-07-30DOI: 10.1038/s41684-025-01594-5
Jorge Ferreira
{"title":"A new zebrafish epilepsy model","authors":"Jorge Ferreira","doi":"10.1038/s41684-025-01594-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41684-025-01594-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Epilepsy affects approximately 70 million people globally, with 30–40% of patients experiencing drug-resistant seizures despite treatment with multiple antiseizure medications (ASMs). To address this issue, in a study in <i>Disease Models & Mechanisms</i>, the team developed a novel zebrafish model targeting <i>slc25a22a</i>, the ortholog of human <i>SLC25A22</i>—a gene associated with a range of epileptic conditions. Unlike existing zebrafish models, which often rely on gene knockdowns and show weak seizure phenotypes, the new CRISPR-Cas9–generated <i>slc25a22a</i> knockout exhibits robust epilepsy traits, including spontaneous seizures, behavioral hyperactivity and electrophysiological hyperexcitability. Importantly, treatment with valproic acid effectively suppressed these phenotypes, highlighting the model’s relevance for both mechanistic studies and drug screening. These findings indicate that <i>slc25a22a</i> can be a promising therapeutic target for refractory epilepsy and establish this zebrafish line as a valuable platform for preclinical research into novel ASMs.</p><p><b>Original reference:</b> Lee, S.-H. et al. <i>Dis. Model & Mech</i>. <b>18</b>, dmm052275 (2025)</p>","PeriodicalId":17936,"journal":{"name":"Lab Animal","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144747307","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lab AnimalPub Date : 2025-07-25DOI: 10.1038/s41684-025-01586-5
Youngsub Eom, Eunheh Koh, Hye-Si Park, Hae-Chul Park, Jong Suk Song, Jeffrey H. Boatright, John M. Nickerson, Suhyun Kim
{"title":"Assessment of a novel color vision optomotor response assay in zebrafish larvae with red cone ablation","authors":"Youngsub Eom, Eunheh Koh, Hye-Si Park, Hae-Chul Park, Jong Suk Song, Jeffrey H. Boatright, John M. Nickerson, Suhyun Kim","doi":"10.1038/s41684-025-01586-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41684-025-01586-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Zebrafish are widely used to investigate visual function, owing to their well-defined retinal organization and optical transparency during early developmental stages. Here, we evaluate the effectiveness of a color vision optomotor response (CV-OMR) assay for assessing zebrafish with red cone ablation. Tg (thrb:gal4;UAS:epNTR-p2a-mCherry) transgenic zebrafish were used to ablate red cones via the addition of metronidazole (MTZ). Transgenic zebrafish larvae were treated with MTZ for 0, 12 and 24 h at 5 days post-fertilization, resulting in Tg(+)MTZ(−), Tg(+)MTZ(+)12 h and Tg(+)MTZ(+)24 h groups, respectively. The areas of mCherry-expressing cells, representing red cones in tissue sections, were compared. The mean mCherry expression area was smallest in the Tg(+)MTZ(+)24 h group (16.5 ± 7.6 μm<sup>2</sup>), followed by the Tg(+)MTZ(+)12 h (404.1 ± 200.9 μm<sup>2</sup>) and Tg(+)MTZ(−) groups (1,066.6 ± 252.2 μm<sup>2</sup>; <i>P</i> < 0.001). At 6 days post-fertilization, zebrafish larvae were evaluated using the CV-OMR assay comprising two colors. Results were reported as the area under the curve of the ratio of larvae at the starting point curve. The ratio of larvae at the starting point decreased most rapidly in the Tg(+)MTZ(−) group and most slowly in the Tg(+)MTZ(+)24 h group. There were significant differences in the area under the curve of the ratio of larvae at the starting point curve among the three groups. In conclusion, the CV-OMR assay demonstrated the ability to differentiate color vision impairment based on the extent of red cone ablation. The CV-OMR assay used in this study may prove valuable for evaluating color vision in zebrafish with various eye diseases.</p>","PeriodicalId":17936,"journal":{"name":"Lab Animal","volume":"214 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144701756","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lab AnimalPub Date : 2025-07-24DOI: 10.1038/s41684-025-01587-4
Alycia M. Crooks, Kate M. Onuska, Geoffrey Ngo, Scheila D. Schmidt, Aja E. Hogan-Cann, Amr Eed, Ravi S. Menon, Lisa M. Saksida, Timothy J. Bussey, Taylor W. Schmitz, Vania F. Prado, Marco A. M. Prado
{"title":"Characterization of a novel transgenic mouse model to investigate brain-wide activation of astrocyte Gq signaling","authors":"Alycia M. Crooks, Kate M. Onuska, Geoffrey Ngo, Scheila D. Schmidt, Aja E. Hogan-Cann, Amr Eed, Ravi S. Menon, Lisa M. Saksida, Timothy J. Bussey, Taylor W. Schmitz, Vania F. Prado, Marco A. M. Prado","doi":"10.1038/s41684-025-01587-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41684-025-01587-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Astrocytes sense and modify neuronal activity, and accumulating evidence suggests a role for these cells in the modulation of neuroinflammation and cognition. Most experiments investigating the in vivo role of astrocytic signaling use viral vectors to drive astrocyte-specific expression of receptors in localized regions of the brain. However, viral vector-mediated delivery of receptors can lead to off-target inflammation and impact neurogenesis, neuronal function and behavior. Here, we used transgenic mice expressing Cre-inducible hM3Dq, a designer receptor exclusively activated by designer drugs (DREADD), to target the Gq-coupled receptor hM3Dq specifically in astrocytes without the use of viral transduction. We showed that in vitro administration of clozapine <i>N</i>-oxide to primary astrocytes derived from astro-hM3Dq mice increased intracellular calcium levels. Similarly, acute in vivo activation of astrocytic hM3Dq induced time-dependent changes in resting-state brain function as well as increased c-Fos expression throughout the brain. Acute astrocyte-specific hM3Dq activation increased synthesis of cortical mRNA of proinflammatory cytokines TNF, IL-1β and IL-6, while chronic activation did not greatly impact proinflammatory cytokine expression. Importantly, however, acute global activation of astrocyte-specific hM3Dq did not adversely affect behavior in a battery of tasks. Taken together, we conclude that the astro-hM3Dq mouse line can serve as a reliable model for studying the brain-wide role of astrocytic muscarinic and Gq signaling in neuroinflammation, behavior and neuronal activity, mitigating the potential negative effects associated with the use of viral transduction.</p>","PeriodicalId":17936,"journal":{"name":"Lab Animal","volume":"124 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144694009","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lab AnimalPub Date : 2025-07-01DOI: 10.1038/s41684-025-01581-w
Jorge Ferreira
{"title":"Mouse model of respiratory sepsis","authors":"Jorge Ferreira","doi":"10.1038/s41684-025-01581-w","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41684-025-01581-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Respiratory diseases can lead to sepsis. However, the current models of sepsis simulate peritoneal sepsis by injecting lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or through other physical methods, but no model of respiratory sepsis is available. A study in <i>Laboratory Animal Research</i> presents a new mouse model of viral respiratory sepsis. The team inoculated BALB/c mice with the H1N1 strain A/PR/8/34 virus with increasing concentrations and scored sepsis over 14 days. The highest concentration had a mortality rate of 100% on day 6. With the second highest concentration, only one animal survived beyond the 14 days of testing. Organ dysfunction was not necessarily a sign that the animal was going to die, but both lung and liver tissue damage were found in non-surviving mice. In this H1N1 model, where the virus is delivered intranasally, animals developed respiratory sepsis, making it a valuable tool to study viral respiratory sepsis in a more translatable way.</p><p><b>Original reference:</b> Jiao, Y. et al<i>. Lab. Anim. Res</i>. <b>41</b>, 16 (2025)</p>","PeriodicalId":17936,"journal":{"name":"Lab Animal","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144533835","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lab AnimalPub Date : 2025-07-01DOI: 10.1038/s41684-025-01577-6
Alexandra Le Bras
{"title":"Sensing social hierarchy","authors":"Alexandra Le Bras","doi":"10.1038/s41684-025-01577-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41684-025-01577-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Mice, like many other mammals, live in social hierarchies where some individuals are more dominant than others. While previous work suggests that mice rely on a combination of behavioral and social cues, primarily during repeated interactions, to recognize and integrate rank, a new study in <i>Current Biology</i> shows that mice instead infer rank through chemical cues such as odors. The investigators analyzed the behavior of male mice using the tube test, a standard assay of social dominance in which two mice enter a tube from opposite ends, and the dominant forces the other more submissive mouse to retreat. They showed that mice were able to correctly adapt their behavior to reflect the new rank of an unknown opponent, without prior interaction. Using a series of sensory ablation experiments, the team showed that both olfaction and contact chemosensation were sufficient for rank assessment, indicating that male mice use chemosensory signals to infer dominance status during social interactions. These findings open new avenues to understand how the brain integrates rank information to guide behavior in social hierarchies.</p><p><b>Original reference:</b> Borak, N. et al<i>. Curr. Biol</i>. <b>35</b>, 2746–2751 (2025)</p>","PeriodicalId":17936,"journal":{"name":"Lab Animal","volume":"3 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144533889","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lab AnimalPub Date : 2025-07-01DOI: 10.1038/s41684-025-01580-x
Jorge Ferreira
{"title":"Refining cervical dislocation","authors":"Jorge Ferreira","doi":"10.1038/s41684-025-01580-x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41684-025-01580-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Humane euthanasia methods for mice are strictly regulated. Cervical dislocation (CD) is the most used physical technique. However, studies report failure rates of up to 20%, raising concerns about its reliability. With such a failure rate, a better way of conducting CD is necessary. A study <i>in Laboratory Animals</i> shows an effective tool-free method that refines CD. Contrary to the common way of performing CD, which uses a tool to hold the neck region of the animal down and involves pulling on the tail to achieve CD, the recommended methods use only the fingers to hold on to the spine. Handlers can either hold the animal by the scruff or tail, being that the fingers on the neck will exert the necessary force to humanely kill the animal. Using the tool-free method, 100% of the animals were effectively euthanized and this was confirmed by computerized tomography scans. Refining humane killing methods is beneficial not only for the animals but also for the caretakers, promoting better animal welfare overall.</p><p><b>Original reference:</b> Davidge, A., Bulat, F. & Vernet, A. <i>Lab. Anim</i>. <b>9</b>, 236772251332722 (2025)</p>","PeriodicalId":17936,"journal":{"name":"Lab Animal","volume":"19 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144533892","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lab AnimalPub Date : 2025-07-01DOI: 10.1038/s41684-025-01576-7
Alexandra Le Bras
{"title":"Microglia and pathological pain","authors":"Alexandra Le Bras","doi":"10.1038/s41684-025-01576-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41684-025-01576-7","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The activation of spinal microglial cells in response to nerve injury has been implicated in the development of neuropathic pain, a debilitating chronic pain condition. Peripheral nerve injury causes the release of mediators such as Colony Stimulating Factor 1 (CSF1) and CX3CL1, which activate microglial cells. In turn, activated microglia release factors that increase the excitability of neurons and promote pain hypersensitivity. Previous studies have shown that nerve damage activates microglia by changing their transcriptional profile, including increasing the expression of components of the translational machinery. However, the role of microglial protein synthesis in neuropathic pain remains unknown. A new study in mice demonstrates the functional role of increased protein synthesis in microglia in promoting pain hypersensitivity. The findings show that stimulating mRNA translation in microglia by selectively knocking out the translational repressor eukaryotic initiation factor 4E–binding protein 1 (4E-BP1) in these cells promoted the transition of microglia to a reactive state and induced mechanical hypersensitivity in both male and female mice. By contrast, inhibiting microglial translation by expressing a mutant form of 4E-BP1 reduced microglia activation after peripheral nerve injury and alleviated neuropathic pain in both sexes.</p><p><b>Original reference:</b> Lister, K.C. et al<i>. J. Clin. Invest</i>. <b>135</b>, e180190 (2025)</p>","PeriodicalId":17936,"journal":{"name":"Lab Animal","volume":"54 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144533834","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lab AnimalPub Date : 2025-07-01DOI: 10.1038/s41684-025-01575-8
Alexandra Le Bras
{"title":"A touch of oxytocin","authors":"Alexandra Le Bras","doi":"10.1038/s41684-025-01575-8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41684-025-01575-8","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Juvenile rats engage in social play, particularly rough-and-tumble play, which is important for the development of the brain and social skills. Rat tickling by human hands mimics the pleasant tactile stimulation obtained through rough-and-tumble play and increases affinity for human hands. However, the neural mechanisms underlying affinity-like behaviors from rats to human hand remain poorly understood. A new study in <i>Current Biology</i> shows that oxytocin facilitates human touch-induced play behavior in rats. The study notably revealed that repeated tickling in adolescent rats (35–45 days old) increased oxytocin receptor (OTR) expression in the ventrolateral part of the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMHvl). In rats in which tickling was administered for several days, inhibition of oxytocin signaling in the VMHvl via chemogenetic inhibition or administration of an OTR antagonist reduced the rat affinity for human hands. These results demonstrate for the first time that oxytocin signaling in the VMHvl is critical for human touch-induced play behavior in rats and advance our understanding of the role of oxytocin in social behaviors.</p><p><b>Original reference:</b> Hayashi, H. et al<i>. Curr. Biol</i>. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2025.05.034 (2025)</p>","PeriodicalId":17936,"journal":{"name":"Lab Animal","volume":"27 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.9,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144533890","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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