Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland

2 ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN JoVE

Medicine

Flexible Colonoscopy in Mice to Evaluate the Severity of Colitis and Colorectal Tumors Using a Validated Endoscopic Scoring System

Tomohiro Kodani^*1,3, Alex Rodriguez-Palacios^*1,3, Daniele Corridoni^1,3, Loris Lopetuso^2,3, Luca Di Martino^1,3, Brian Marks^1,3, James Pizarro^1,3, Theresa Pizarro^2,3, Amitabh Chak^1,3, Fabio Cominelli^1,3

¹Division of Gastroenterology, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, ²Department of Pathology, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, ³Digestive Health Research Center, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland

Over the past few years, new generation endoscopes have emerged as important diagnostic research aids for evaluating murine colitis and colorectal tumors. We present herein a detailed protocol for endoscopic assessment of inflammation and colorectal tumors in mice, as well as a novel scoring system that uses decimal identifiers to document the endoscopic severity of colitis and colorectal tumors.

Medicine

Ultrasound-guided Intracardiac Injection of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells to Increase Homing to the Intestine for Use in Murine Models of Experimental Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

Maneesh Dave¹, Paola Menghini¹, Keiki Sugi^2,3, Rodrigo A. Somoza⁵, Zhenghong Lee⁴, Mukesh Jain^2,3, Arnold Caplan⁵, Fabio Cominelli¹

¹Division of Gastroenterology and Liver Disease, University Hospitals, Digestive Health Research Institute, Case Western Reserve University, ²Case Cardiovascular Research Institute, School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, ³Department of Medicine, Harrington Discovery Institute, Harrington Heart and Vascular Institute, University Hospitals Case Medical Center, ⁴Department of Radiology, University Hospitals Case Medical Center, ⁵Department of Biology - Skeletal Research Center, Case Western Reserve University

Murine studies in models of colonic inflammation have demonstrated that a small percentage (1 - 5%) of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) injected intravenously or intraperitoneally home to the inflamed colon¹^,². This study shows that ultrasound-guided intracardiac injections of MSCs result in increased localization to the intestine.