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Animal Models

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Division of Comparative Medicine

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Infant Isoflurane Exposure Affects Social Behaviours, but Does Not Impair Specific Cognitive Domains in Juvenile Non-Human Primates

Neudecker et al., British Journal of Anaesthesia. 2020.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0007091220308503

Researchers investigated the impact of extended (5 hours) isoflurane anesthetic exposure (1-3 exposures) of rhesus macaque (RM) infants of both sexes on cognitive testing and behavioral assessments. Cognitive function did not differ among groups; however, compared to controls, RMs exposed three times during infancy exhibited less close social behavior. One isoflurane exposure resulted in increased anxiety-related behaviors and more inhibition towards novel objects. These findings are consistent with behavioral alterations observed in social settings of human clinical studies. Supported by ORIP (P51OD011092).

Lipocalin-2 Is an Anorexigenic Signal in Primates

Petropoulou et al., eLife. 2020.

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.58949

The hormone lipocalin-2 (LCN2) suppresses food intake in mice. Researchers demonstrated that LCN2 increases after a meal and reduces hunger in people with normal weight or overweight, but not in obese individuals. The researchers also showed that LCN2 crosses the blood-brain barrier and binds to the hypothalamus in vervet monkeys. LCN2 was found to bind to the hypothalamus in human, baboon, and rhesus macaque brain sections. When injected into vervets, LCN2 suppressed food intake and lowered body weight without toxic effects in short-term experiments. These findings lay the groundwork to investigate whether LCN2 might be a useful treatment for obesity. Supported by ORIP (P40OD010965), NCATS, NIDDK, NIA, and NHLBI.

Estrogen Acts Through Estrogen Receptor 2b to Regulate Hepatobiliary Fate During Vertebrate Development

Chaturantabut et al., Hepatology. 2020.

https://aasldpubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/hep.31184

During liver development, bipotent progenitor cells differentiate into hepatocytes and biliary epithelial cells to ensure a functional liver. The developmental cues controlling the differentiation of committed progenitors into these cell types are not completely understood. These authors report an essential role for estrogenic regulation in vertebrate liver development to affect hepatobiliary fate decisions. The studies identify17β-estradiol (E2), nuclear estrogen receptor 2b (esr2b), and downstream bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) activity as important regulators of hepatobiliary fate decisions during vertebrate liver development. These results have significant implications for liver development in infants exposed to abnormal estrogen levels or estrogenic compounds during pregnancy. Supported by ORIP (R24OD017870) and NIDDK.