Animal models
AF is allowed to use rodents, rabbits and zebrafish for biomedical research by the Ministry of Health with Ministerial Decree n 12/2016-UT dated 29 September 2016 according to D.Lgs. 26/2014 (March 14th, 2014), concerning the protection of animals used for scientific purposes. AF has an internal Ethics Committee “Organismo Preposto al Benessere Animale” (OPBA). AF is certified by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO 9001:2015) and the experimental activities are conducted following specific Standard Operative Procedures (SOPs) in order to manage, standardize and guide operators and, moreover, to ensure the animal welfare.
Biogem Service AF applies the 3Rs principles:
REFINEMENT is applied, through the use of environmental enrichment, the use of sophisticated technologies for the in vivo imaging, as well as the IVIS spectrum (PerkinElmer), Doppler VEVO 2100 (Visualsonics) and microCT SkyScan 1178 (Bruker), in order to refine experimental procedures by reducing the invasiveness of the in vivo protocols and, moreover, to reduce (REDUCTION), as much as possible, the number of animals enrolled in experimental procedures. REPLACEMENT is applied through the literature research and the preliminary in vitro studies. Flexibility is core to our in vivo services, giving clients the possibility to specifically design studies, from route of administration to dosing regimens and endpoint analysis.
Zebrafish
The zebrafish (Danio rerio) is the premier non-mammalian vertebrate model organism. During the last few decades, a unique set of properties has made the zebrafish a popular vertebrate model in various field of biology, ranging from developmental biology, human disease studies to environmental toxicology. The zebrafish is an outstanding system for studying processes difficult or impossible to follow in other animals such as the mechanisms underlying organogenesis. Unlike mice, this model system is readily amenable to forward genetic mutagenesis approaches for the identification of new genes required for these key developmental processes and functions. In the areas of vertebrate development biology and functional genomics, the transparency of the zebrafish embryo during development has allowed researchers to track regulation of gene expression using fluorescent protein genes in real time in living animals. Consequently, the conversion of genetic and other biological information learned from the fish to humans has been faster than in other vertebrate systems.
Experimental Activities
Available cancer models are focused on different pharmacological aspects of tumor responses to new antitumor drugs. Our specific expertise is focused on in molecular and cellular biology, in vitro/vivo tests on murine and human xenograft models. More than 70 sub-cutaneous, orthotopic and metastatic xenograft models are available for the efficacy evaluation of new compounds. Our human tumor xenograft model portfolio includes cancer cell lines from the following tissues: brain, breast, central nervous system, colon, kidney, hematologic, lung, ovary, pancreas, prostate, skin and stomach. All the experimental activities are performed under quality control by using GLP standard procedures.
Evaluation of tumors with quantitative bioluminescent imaging: The availability of a large panel of bioluminescent pre-clinical models allows the evaluation of tumor progression in real time using the optical molecular imaging system IVIS Spectrum from PerkinElmer.
Humanized Models: We have a large collection of primary tumors (biopsies derived from patients) xenografted in tumor-bearing mice (i.e. Lung cancers, Mesothelioma, and others).
Anti-cancer drug evaluation: Administration of therapeutic candidates through different routes (intravenous, subcutaneous, intraperitoneal, oral/gavage, intramuscolar, intratracheal, slow release devices) alone or in combination with traditional anti-tumoral drugs, with high standards of care.
Fertilization of a large number of oocytes (up to 200) using frozen or fresh sperm.
This procedure is particularly suited for the strong expansion of a colony with few males or to recover the colony whose males were infertile after repeated natural unsuccessful mating. The same protocol is used to thaw colonies cryopreserved by sperm freezing.