Kindai University

3 ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN JoVE

Developmental Biology

Manipulation and In Vitro Maturation of Xenopus laevis Oocytes, Followed by Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection, to Study Embryonic Development

Kei Miyamoto^1,2, David Simpson^1,2, John B. Gurdon^1,2

¹Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge, ²Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge

We describe methods of manipulating Xenopus laevis immature oocytes, in vitro maturation of oocytes to eggs, and intracytoplasmic sperm injection. This protocol allows degradation of some maternal proteins and overexpression of genes of interest at fertilization, and hence is valuable to study roles of specific factors in early embryonic development.

Medicine

Creation of a Rodent Model of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm by Blocking Adventitial Vasa Vasorum Perfusion

Hiroki Tanaka^1,2, Naoki Unno², Tatsuro Yata², Hirona Kugo³, Nobuhiro Zaima³, Takeshi Sasaki⁴, Tetsumei Urano¹

¹Department of Medical Physiology, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, ²Division of Vascular Surgery, Second Department of Surgery, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, ³Department of Applied Biological Chemistry, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kindai University, ⁴Department of Organ & Tissue Anatomy, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine

Polyurethane catheter insertion into the aortic lumen and suture ligation of the aorta induce chronic hypoxia due to hypoperfusion of the adventitial vasa vasorum. This article describes a novel animal model of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) with characteristics similar to those of AAA in humans.

Developmental Biology

Combinational Treatment of Trichostatin A and Vitamin C Improves the Efficiency of Cloning Mice by Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer

Rika Azuma¹, Kei Miyamoto², Mami Oikawa³, Masayasu Yamada⁴, Masayuki Anzai^1,5

¹Division of Biological Science, Graduate School of Biology-Oriented Science and Technology, Kindai University, ²Faculty of Biology-Oriented Science and Technology, Kindai University, ³Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute and Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, ⁴Laboratory of Reproductive Biology, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, ⁵Institute of Advanced Technology, Kindai University

We describe a dramatically improved method for mouse cloning using trichostatin A, vitamin C, and deionized bovine serum albumin. We show a simplified, reproducible protocol that supports efficient development of cloned embryos. Hence, this method could become a standardized procedure for mouse cloning.