In line with several earlier investigations (Winkler et al. 2006; Blockx et al. 2011), we demonstrate that the transgenic HD rat model does not exhibit the hallmark basal ganglia atrophy seen in HD patients.
Historically, studies of burn in rat models do not usually account for the effects of disuse.
Previous work has shown that an acute exposure to LA in these rat models does not exacerbate inflammation despite increases in Fe-binding proteins and gene expression (Shannahan et al. 2011b).
O'Donoghue et al. reported that the uptake of Cu-ATSM 4 h after injection in an R3327-AT anaplastic rat prostate tumour model did not correlate with [F]FMISO uptake and does not reflect the level of hypoxia, as assessed by pimonidazole immunostaining and invasive oxygen needle probes.
In our study, the body weight of the rats did not show significant differences between normal and tumour-bearing rats, suggesting that our experimental model did not produce side-effects that could cause weight loss.
Our own research demonstrated that induction of CKD in rats, using the 5/6 nephrectomy model, did not alter intestinal phosphate transport, suggesting that the gut might be a suitable therapeutic target to prevent or reduce hyperphosphatemia [ 49].
Furthermore, our model did not contain uremic rats; uremic toxins effect on peritoneum could therefore not be measured here.
For example, the rat rotator cuff model does not fully represent the anatomy, movement kinematics, or kinetics that exist in the human shoulder and rodents do not possess a homologue of the human MMP1 gene.
A major limitation of this study is that the rat tail static compression model does not perfectly reflect all aspects of human disc degeneration.
Malandro et al. (19), using the same rat model as we did in the current study, demonstrated that the fetal serum concentrations of 10 amino acids were lower in the LP group, six of these were essential amino acids transported by system L (Ile, Leu, Val, Met, Thr, and Tyr).
