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Inflammation Disease Models

General Inflammatory Screening

In vitro profiling of anti-inflammatory properties

Cytokine and cell based assays are quick and provide the ability to interpret and predict many biological properties of potential drug compounds. Cytokines and related molecules have been implicated in inflammatory diseases such as rheumatic disease, multiple sclerosis, asthma, inflammatory bowel disease, and autoimmune diseases as well as cancer and infectious diseases. These assays provide the ability to determine a potential compounds affect on cell proliferation, cytokine production and cellular responses.

MD Biosciences  uses  a  number  of  primary  and immortalized cell lines to assay test compounds for their effect on inflammatory mediator production, signal transduction pathway  activation,  transcription  factor  activity,  gene expression and other specialized assays. Using these in vitro assays, compounds can  be rapidly and cost effectively screened for  activity  prior  to  more  expensive  and  time  consuming in vivo analysis.

Review our whitepaper on in vitro screening for inflammatory activities of a potential drug compound.

 

 

General Inflammatory Models

 Type Model   Description
 In Vitro RAW macrophage Assay
  Mouse macrophage cell line is stimulated in the presence or absence of test compound and assayed for inflammatory mediators.
 
       
 In Vitro PBMC Assay  

PBMCs are stimulated in the presence or absence of test compound and assayed for inflammatory mediators.

 
       
 In Vitro COX Activity Assay  

PBMCs or RAW macrohpage cells are treated with test compound in the presence or absence of endotoxin and/or cytokine stimulation inducing an inflammatory response.  Culture supernates are assayed for PGE2 production.

 
       
 In Vitro Medical Device Screening  

In vitro assay differentiating between contact dependent and contact independant inflammatory effects of medical devices.

 
       
 In Vivo LPS Shock Model  

An in vivo mouse model of acute inflammation induced by injection of LPS into the peritoneal cavity.

 
       

 In Vivo

LPS Lung Model  

An in vivo mouse model of acute pulmonary inflammation induced by the intranasal administration of LPS. This is a rapid model where leukocytes are recruited to the lung within 4 hr of LPS treatment. It is possible to measure and characterize the cellular profile of recruited luekocytes to the lung airways as well as the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines.

    
       
 In Vivo Acute Paw Inflammation Model  

An in vivo model of acute inflammation induced by carrageenan. Carrageenan-induced paw oedema is a model of non-immune acute inflammatory reaction to assess the contribution of  mediators involved in vascular changes associated with acute inflammation and potential treatments

 
       

Custom in vitro assays available. Please contact a representative to discuss a custom assay design. The following describes some of the cell systems and downstream readouts available.

Partial listing of cell lines and primary cell  systems:

  • Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells
  • T-Cells
  • B-cells
  • Macrophages
  • Epithelial Cells
  • Fibroblasts
  • Synoviocytes
  • Chondrocytes  

Assays

Depending on the cell system used, a variety of downstream readouts can be analyzed for human, mouse, and rat. 

Production of Inflammatory mediators:

  • Cytokines & Chemokines
  • Arachidonic Acid cascade
  • Matrix Metalloproteinases
  • Signal transduction pathway activation
  • Transcription Factor

Gene Expression:

  • Cytokines
  • Chemokines
  • COX1, COX2

Multiplex Assays: 

  • Cytokines
  • Chemokines
  • Growth factors
  • MMPs