Experimental Pathology Services

RRDA provides a variety of experimental pathology services that can accommodate the demands of animal-based research investigations.    Services include the examination of stained slides and preparation of a report on the interpretation of tissue morphology .

It is essential that our laboratory be informed of potential biohazards associated with necropsy examinations or tissue handling .

Experimental pathology may be used in an array of applications including, but not limited to:

• Screening and diagnostic tests for evaluation of sentinels for overall rodent colony health
• Toxicology studies requiring assessment of organ function
• Toxicology /drug efficacy studies requiring assessment of hematological changes
• Characterization (phenotyping) of genetically engineered rodents
• Morphometric evaluation and semi-quantitative scoring of histological changes associated with efficacy and toxicity of compounds tested in animal models. Statistical analysis and charts to illustrate the significance of changes observed.
• Digital photography and illustration techniques to demonstrate the nature and severity of changes to the non-pathologist.

PATHOLOGY AND FOLLOW-ON STUDIES
Once the tissues have been collected, there are a variety of follow - on studies that can be performed . Our capabilities include:

• Basic histology (H&E strain)
• Use of special stains (Masson Trichrome, etc.)
• Proliferation and apoptosis immunostains
• X-gal Detection of B-galactosidase for Frozen Sections The sites of B-galactosidase activity will be stained blue and nuclei will be stained pink.
• Immunohistochemistry for both monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies
• Fluorescent immunohistochemistry
• Cellular hypoxia measurements
• Blood vessel density measurements
• Biochemical assays for target effectiveness on treated animal tissues

Molecular biology is an integral tool for analyzing treated tissues, building molecular probes, and developing new animal models. Some of our expertise includes

• DNA, RNA, and protein extraction from cell and tissue Western, Northern, and Southern blot analysis, immunoprecipitation and kinase assays
• Gene construction, transfection, and expression
• DNA sequencing and mutation detection
• cDNA synthesis, primer design, PCR, and RT-PCR
• Genotyping, DNA enzymology, plasmid DNA sub-cloning
• Developing knockout mouse and transgenic mice.