Fwd: ScienceDaily News Release: New Tool For Studying Animal Models Of Neurological And Psychiatric Diseases

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>

>To:

>Subject: ScienceDaily News Release: New Tool For Studying Animal Models Of

>Neurological And Psychiatric Diseases

>Date: Thu, 14 Nov 2002 13:14:37 -0500

>

>Dear ,

>

>Deborah (tenacitywins@...) has sent you this page from

>ScienceDaily Magazine (http://www.sciencedaily.com).

>

>--------------------------------------------------------------------------

>

>Source: Brookhaven National Laboratory

>Date Posted: 11/6/2002

>Web Address: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/11/021105080258.htm

>

>SCIENCEDAILY NEWS RELEASE: NEW TOOL FOR STUDYING ANIMAL MODELS OF

>NEUROLOGICAL AND PSYCHIATRIC DISEASES

>

>UPTON, NY -- Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven

>National Laboratory have demonstrated that a miniature positron emission

>tomography (PET) scanner, known as microPET, and the chemical markers used

>in traditional PET scanning are sensitive enough to pick up subtle

>differences in neurochemistry between known genetic variants of mice.

>

>

>This " proof-of-principle " experiment, described in the November issue of

>the Journal of Nuclear Medicine, " opens up a whole new, non-invasive way

>to study and follow transgenic or genetically engineered strains of mice

>that serve as animal models for human neurological diseases, such as

>Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease or psychiatric diseases such as

>substance abuse, depression, and anxiety disorders, " said Panayotis

>() Thanos, lead author of the paper. Studying animal models may help

>scientists better understand and develop treatments for the human

>diseases.

>

>Thanos and his team used microPET to measure the level of " D2 " receptors

>for dopamine -- a brain chemical associated with feelings of reward and

>pleasure, which has been found to play a role in drug addiction -- in the

>brains of normal mice and so-called knockout mice, which had been

>genetically engineered to lack the gene for D2. The dopamine D2 receptor

>has been implicated in a wide variety of neuropsychiatric disorders,

>including, in recent studies by Brookhaven researchers, alcoholism and

>substance abuse. Thus, these D2-deficient mice are important for studying

>human diseases.

>

>Before the scans, each mouse was given an injection of a radiotracer

>molecule designed to bind to D2 receptors. The microPET scanner then

>picked up the signal from the tracer to show where and how much was bound

>in various parts of the brain. The level of the tracer indicates the

>number of receptors.

>

>In the striatum, a region of the brain normally rich in D2 receptors,

> " deficient " mice had significantly lower levels of tracer binding compared

>with their normal counterparts. There was no difference in tracer binding

>between strains in the cerebellum, an area of the brain that normally

>lacks D2 receptors, which was studied for comparison.

>

>The scientists ruled out anatomical differences as a possible explanation

>for their results by comparing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain

>scans of the two strains, which showed no differences. They also confirmed

>the difference in D2 receptor levels between " deficient " and normal mice

>with traditional autoradiography, where tissue samples are labeled with a

>radiotracer to reveal receptor levels.

>

> " The results clearly show that microPET is an excellent technique that can

>pick up the neurochemical difference between the two strains in a

>non-invasive way, " Thanos said. " And because this technique can be used in

>living animals, we can now study how these neurochemical differences

>between genetic strains of mice affect behavior and/or disease progression

>over time in the same animals, " he said.

>

>The technique can easily be extended to study other human neurological or

>psychiatric diseases for which knockout animal models exist, such as

>Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, or even depression and anxiety

>disorders.

>

>This work was funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and

>Alcoholism, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the U.S. Department

>of Energy, which supports basic research in a variety of scientific

>fields.

>

>

>

>The U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory

>(http://www.bnl.gov) conducts research in the physical, biomedical, and

>environmental sciences, as well as in energy technologies. Brookhaven also

>builds and operates major facilities available to university, industrial,

>and government scientists. The Laboratory is managed by Brookhaven Science

>Associates, a limited liability company founded by Stony Brook University

>and Battelle, a nonprofit applied science and technology organization.

>

>

>

>--------------------------------------------------------------------------

_________________________________________________________________

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[Guest guest]

>

>To:

>Subject: ScienceDaily News Release: New Tool For Studying Animal Models Of

>Neurological And Psychiatric Diseases

>Date: Thu, 14 Nov 2002 13:14:37 -0500

>

>Dear ,

>

>Deborah (tenacitywins@...) has sent you this page from

>ScienceDaily Magazine (http://www.sciencedaily.com).

>

>--------------------------------------------------------------------------

>

>Source: Brookhaven National Laboratory

>Date Posted: 11/6/2002

>Web Address: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/11/021105080258.htm

>

>SCIENCEDAILY NEWS RELEASE: NEW TOOL FOR STUDYING ANIMAL MODELS OF

>NEUROLOGICAL AND PSYCHIATRIC DISEASES

>

>UPTON, NY -- Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven

>National Laboratory have demonstrated that a miniature positron emission

>tomography (PET) scanner, known as microPET, and the chemical markers used

>in traditional PET scanning are sensitive enough to pick up subtle

>differences in neurochemistry between known genetic variants of mice.

>

>

>This " proof-of-principle " experiment, described in the November issue of

>the Journal of Nuclear Medicine, " opens up a whole new, non-invasive way

>to study and follow transgenic or genetically engineered strains of mice

>that serve as animal models for human neurological diseases, such as

>Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease or psychiatric diseases such as

>substance abuse, depression, and anxiety disorders, " said Panayotis

>() Thanos, lead author of the paper. Studying animal models may help

>scientists better understand and develop treatments for the human

>diseases.

>

>Thanos and his team used microPET to measure the level of " D2 " receptors

>for dopamine -- a brain chemical associated with feelings of reward and

>pleasure, which has been found to play a role in drug addiction -- in the

>brains of normal mice and so-called knockout mice, which had been

>genetically engineered to lack the gene for D2. The dopamine D2 receptor

>has been implicated in a wide variety of neuropsychiatric disorders,

>including, in recent studies by Brookhaven researchers, alcoholism and

>substance abuse. Thus, these D2-deficient mice are important for studying

>human diseases.

>

>Before the scans, each mouse was given an injection of a radiotracer

>molecule designed to bind to D2 receptors. The microPET scanner then

>picked up the signal from the tracer to show where and how much was bound

>in various parts of the brain. The level of the tracer indicates the

>number of receptors.

>

>In the striatum, a region of the brain normally rich in D2 receptors,

> " deficient " mice had significantly lower levels of tracer binding compared

>with their normal counterparts. There was no difference in tracer binding

>between strains in the cerebellum, an area of the brain that normally

>lacks D2 receptors, which was studied for comparison.

>

>The scientists ruled out anatomical differences as a possible explanation

>for their results by comparing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain

>scans of the two strains, which showed no differences. They also confirmed

>the difference in D2 receptor levels between " deficient " and normal mice

>with traditional autoradiography, where tissue samples are labeled with a

>radiotracer to reveal receptor levels.

>

> " The results clearly show that microPET is an excellent technique that can

>pick up the neurochemical difference between the two strains in a

>non-invasive way, " Thanos said. " And because this technique can be used in

>living animals, we can now study how these neurochemical differences

>between genetic strains of mice affect behavior and/or disease progression

>over time in the same animals, " he said.

>

>The technique can easily be extended to study other human neurological or

>psychiatric diseases for which knockout animal models exist, such as

>Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, or even depression and anxiety

>disorders.

>

>This work was funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and

>Alcoholism, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the U.S. Department

>of Energy, which supports basic research in a variety of scientific

>fields.

>

>

>

>The U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory

>(http://www.bnl.gov) conducts research in the physical, biomedical, and

>environmental sciences, as well as in energy technologies. Brookhaven also

>builds and operates major facilities available to university, industrial,

>and government scientists. The Laboratory is managed by Brookhaven Science

>Associates, a limited liability company founded by Stony Brook University

>and Battelle, a nonprofit applied science and technology organization.

>

>

>

>--------------------------------------------------------------------------

_________________________________________________________________

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http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963