Acute Inflammatory Disease Models

 

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)

RA is a long-term autoimmune disorder which primarily affects joints, and it is believed to be caused by genetic and environmental factors. It affects 5 to 50 per 100,000 people each year. The underlying mechanism of RA involves a strong autoimmune reaction against the joints.
The principal therapeutic approach is symptomatic, with the goal of reducing pain and inflammation: analgesics, steroids, NSAIDs and disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) are most frequently used.
To help the discovery of new pharmacological approaches to RA treatment, in our AF is currently being used a highly reproducible induced model of RA obtained through immunizations of DBA1/J mice with Collagen II, resulting in severe tarsal joint swelling and reddening starting from two weeks after the second immunization.

 

Cystitis

Cystitis is a common inflammatory pathology involving the urinary bladder, which has a prevalence of 6.2% to 11.2% in women and 2.3 to 4.6% in men. It is often caused by E. coli infection of the lower urinary tract, and represents the most frequent bacterial infection in women.
With the aim of helping researchers in the discovery of novel therapeutic approaches to Cystitis, in our AF is available a suitable acute in-vivo model of this pathology, obtained through intraperitoneal injection of Cyclophosphamide (CYP) in female Sprague-Dawley rats. Furthermore, we offer the possibility to follow the development of cystitis through ecographic imaging using the VEVO 2100 equipped with LAZR (Visualsonics).