Empowering biomedical research

The University of Missouri’s Small Animal Phenotyping Advanced Technology Core in the Dalton Cardiovascular Research Center enables biomedical researchers to gain a better understanding of the major body systems, such as the cardiovascular, respiratory and nervous systems, and how they interact.

Founded in 2014, the core offers investigators across campus, at other institutions and in industry the ability to monitor physiological functions in mice and rats over an extended period of time.

“This is particularly important when studying disease models for obesity, diabetes, hypertension, aneurysm formation, heart failure and other dysfunctions that progress over time,” said core founder Michael Hill, professor of medical pharmacology and physiology. “The data from these approaches is very complimentary to endpoint studies that are typically of a biochemical nature.”

The core is a one-stop-shop that houses a wide array of instruments used for the in vivo characterization of animal models along with a surgical suite and a vivarium. Researchers do not need to be affiliated with the Dalton Center to use the core. Learn more in the following Q&A with the core’s team.
 

What is the core’s role on campus?

Instruments in the Small Animal Phenotyping core allow researchers to measure animal behavior; physiological parameters like blood pressure and heart function; and disease states, such as infection size and tumor growth. All of these factors characterize an animal’s phenotype. Investigators use this data to study the role of certain genes or proteins that give rise to specific phenotypes.

The core provides researchers with multiple instruments and approaches for:

• Monitoring the cardiovascular and metabolic health of small animals, including ultrasound for monitoring heart and blood vessel function; specialized cages for assessing metabolic functions, including oxygen consumption, carbon dioxide release and food intake;  and systems for measuring blood pressure, perfusion and glucose levels.
• Tracking drug distribution, tumor growth, infection and revascularization after injury.
• Observing small animal neurological or cognitive functions, now recognized as important factors in the study of genetic and disease-state models.

Which research areas benefit the most from your services?

While emphasis is placed on cardiovascular applications, the core also benefits biomedical researchers involved in everything from drug development to understanding tissue hypoxia. Investigators from medicine, veterinary medicine and biological engineering are among the most frequent users from Mizzou.

How are researchers using the core?

A few examples:

• Shinghua Ding, Cramer W. LaPierre Professor of Biological and Biomedical Engineering, uses the Promethion metabolic caging system to study the energy expenditure and metabolic activity of animal models related to neurological diseases.
• Laurel Grisanti, assistant professor of biomedical sciences in the College of Veterinary Medicine, is using the Vevo 2100 ultrasound system, Moor laser speckle contrast imager and the CODA noninvasive blood pressure system to measure parameters of cardiovascular physiology in mice. The aim of her research is to understand the molecular mechanisms that contribute to cardiac remodeling — changes that happen in the heart after injury — in an effort to design novel therapies to treat heart failure. 
• De-Pei Li, professor of cardiology, is using the DSI telemetry system to study the regulation of rat blood pressure in hypertension to better understand how the brain controls blood pressure and molecular mechanisms.
• Hongmin Sun, associate professor of cardiology, is using the IVIS whole animal imaging system to study the progress of infection in animal models. The system allows for close monitoring of the disease progress in living animals to test the in vivo efficacy of new drug candidates to fight antibiotic resistance.

How should researchers request services?  

The core offers training and technical support in addition to its phenotyping services. Contact  Zhe Sun, assistant research professor and core technical manager, at 573-884-2499 or sunzh@missouri.edu to get started.