In vivo
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Few studies have reported that the effect of sorafenib on advanced human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is taking place via the inhibition of NF-κB signal transduction. Here we constructed a human HCC Huh7 stable clone with NF-κB-responsive element to drive dual reporter genes, herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (tk) and firefly luciferase (luc2), and co-transfected with a third red fluorescent protein (rfp) gene, renamed as Huh7/NF-κB-tk-luc2/rfp cells, and combined with bioluminescent imaging (BLI) and red fluorescent protein imaging (RFPI) to monitor the effect of sorafenib on NF-κB activation and tumor inhibition. ⋯ Notably, the relative photon fluxes obtained from RFPI and BLI, which represent the viable tumor cells and cells with NF-κB activation, decreased after sorafenib treatment by 50 to 65%, and 87.5 to >90%, respectively, suggesting that NF-κB activation is suppressed in viable HCC cells by sorafenib. Simultaneous molecular imaging of the temporal change of NF-κB activity and of viable cells in the same Huh7/NF-κB-tk-luc2/rfp tumors of the animal may reflect the real status of NF-κB activity and the viable tumor cells at the time of imaging.
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Swine are becoming increasingly attractive as animal models for clinical research and the recently developed Microminipig (MMPig) has emerged as a possible experimental animal model. In this study, we demonstrated age-dependent changes in hematological parameters and coagulation activity in healthy MMPigs (58 male and 67 females, aged 0-34 months), and investigated white thrombus formation (WTF) using an in vitro microchip flow-chamber system (four males and four females, aged 22-23 months). ⋯ While activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) was shorter than prothrombin time (PT), with APTT:PT of 0.88:1, microchip flow-chamber system analysis showed that WTF time was shorter than that in humans, suggesting a possible thrombotic tendency in the MMPig. These results could be useful to life science researchers in the use of the MMPig as an experimental model animal for thrombus formation.