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Alms1-mutant foz/foz mouse

foz/foz mice carry a mutation in Alms1, which encodes a protein found in the basal body of the primary cilium. Mice are morbidly obese and insulin resistant. When fed an atherogenic, Western, or high-fat diet, they develop hepatic steatosis that progresses to NASH with severe fibrosis; hepatic NLRP3 activation, plasma IL-1beta, IL-6 and MCP-1 are elevated, with macrophage and neutrophil infiltration; hepatic stellate cell heterogeneity is observable by single-cell transcriptomics.

Study design

小鼠经口灌胃葡萄糖负荷的耐受试验。禁食 4–6 小时;普通饮食按 1 g/kg、高脂饮食 4 周以上按 0.5 g/kg 给予 50% 葡萄糖溶液;负荷前及负荷后 15、30、60、90、120 分钟测定血糖。不同组别与样本量按具体研究设计确定,本方案不预设实验分组。

Outcome measures

基线与负荷后 15、30、60、90、120 分钟血糖时间序列;可计算血糖曲线下面积。血浆胰岛素结果按所用 ELISA 的校准与量程判读。

获得可供光学显微镜观察的 H&E 染色组织切片:细胞核蓝紫色、细胞质与结缔组织纤维粉红色,用于观察组织中细胞的整体结构与形态细节。本方案本身不产出病理评分数值,也不提供特定分子标志物的定量结果。

Experimental animals

小鼠口服葡萄糖耐量试验(OGTT)
Age
as reported in cited studies
Tissue
blood
Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) staining for histopathology
Age
as reported in cited studies
Tissue
liver

Experimental procedures

禁食 Fasting begins first thing in the morning (around 9am). Fast mice for 4-6 hours before OGTT begins. Transfer mice to clean cage and wire top. Keep water bottles during the fasting period. 1. If using High Fat diet (HFD), save food to give back at the end of the OGTT. 1. mark tails with a sharpie for easier identification during OGTT. 口服葡萄糖负荷 Weigh mouse to obtain body weight for dose calculations. Calculate bolus dose of glucose (**1g/kg**). Weight of mouse (g) x 2 = ul sterile glucose (50% dextrose) solution *If using HFD for 4 weeks or more, use 0.5g/kg (weight of mouse (g) x 1 = ul sterile glucose (50% dextrose) solution) 口服葡萄糖负荷 Prepare syringes using 1cc syringe and 18G oral gavage needle. Load all syringes with calculated glucose dose and position in front of home cage. 口服葡萄糖负荷 Prior to the delivery of the sterile glucose (50% dextrose) solution, a time “zero” blood glucose level must be measured. Restrain mouse and clean tail with 70% ethanol/gauze. Extract a small amount of blood from the tail vein onto One Touch Ultra blood glucose strips used with the One Touch Ultra 2 blood glucose monitoring system. Blood can be collected into microvette tubes that can be used to extract plasma which can be assayed for plasma insulin (see step 9 for plasma collection). Microvette tubes are blood collection tubes with a capillary. Tap tube until all the blood is collected in the tube. Place on ice until plasma collection. 口服葡萄糖负荷 Administer the correct dose of sterile glucose (50% dextrose) solution using the syringe and gavage needle. - Restraint of the Mouse, avoiding an excessively tight grip of the mouse, as this will induce a panic response. Ensure that the mouse cannot bite you and cannot move its head. - Gravity alone should be used to move the cannula down the esophagus. While gliding the cannula, rotate slightly as the cannula goes past the epiglottis and into the esophagus.The mouse should swallow the cannula, and this can be observed. - Inject the fluid slowly. - The cannula is then gently removed and the animal is returned to its cage. 口服葡萄糖负荷 Begin timing from the point of successfully delivering the sterile glucose (50% dextrose) solution. 口服葡萄糖负荷 Test and record the blood glucose level (see step 4) at 15, 30, 60, 90 and 120 minutes after the initial glucose delivery. Record each value and the condition of the animal on the Glucose Tolerance Test record sheet. Extract a small amount of blood from the tail vein at 15, 30, 60 and 120 minutes for plasma; skip blood collection at 90 minutes to ensure not to exceed 0.007 ml blood/ g body weight. 口服葡萄糖负荷 Return food and environmental enrichments to cages. 血浆采集 Place tubes into pre-chilled centrifuge. Centrifguge for 2 mins at 2000 rpm. 00:02:00 4 °C 血浆采集 Remove the callipary-lid and dispose in biohazard bin. Place the base lid and seal the microvette (click position). 血浆采集 Centrifuge at 4°C for 10 mins at 10 000 rpm. 00:10:00 4 °C 血浆采集 Using a pipette, transfer the plasma (top transparent layer) to a clean and labelled tube. Store plasma samples at -20°C until assayed. 血浆胰岛素测定 Assay plasma insulin with the STELLUX Chemi Rodent Insulin ELISA kit (ALPCO #80-INSMR-CH01) according to the manufacturer's protocol. Include the kit standards and quality controls in each assay and read the plate by the kit's chemiluminescence procedure.

脱蜡(Dewaxing) 石蜡切片置于二甲苯中脱蜡 3 次,每次 00:03:00。 复水(Rehydration) 石蜡切片依次置于 100% 乙醇中 3 次、每次 00:03:00,再置于 95% 乙醇中 1 次、00:03:00,随后用水漂洗。 苏木素核染色(Hematoxylin staining) 石蜡切片以苏木素染液染色 00:00:20,随后在流水下冲洗 00:01:00。 分化与返蓝(Differentiation and bluing) 石蜡切片置于返蓝液中 00:01:00,随后在流水下冲洗 00:01:00;此步使细胞核呈现蓝色。 伊红染色(Eosin staining) 石蜡切片以伊红复染 00:00:10;此步使细胞质成分与结缔组织纤维呈现粉红色。 脱水与透明(Dehydration and Clearing) 石蜡切片依次置于 95% 乙醇中 00:02:00、100% 乙醇中 2 次、每次 00:02:00,随后置于二甲苯中 2 次、每次 00:02:00。 封片(Mounting) 石蜡切片以 Permount 封片介质加盖玻片封固。

Model identity

Model name
Alms1-mutant foz/foz mouse
Species
mouse
Taxonomy ID
10090
Strain
foz/foz
Genetic background
C57BL/6J; NOD.B10 reported
Genotype / zygosity
Alms1 mutant (foz/foz)
Allele
Alms1

Biological characteristics

Phenotype stage
Obesity and insulin resistance are established before dietary intervention; NASH with definite NAS score and fibrosis develop after 12-24 weeks on atherogenic or high-fat diet.
Research questions
Used to study NLRP3 inflammasome activation in overnutrition-induced steatohepatitis, characterize hepatic stellate cell phenotypic changes and heterogeneity during NASH and regression, and interrogate enterohepatic bile acid composition and FXR/TGR5 signaling in obesity-associated NASH.
Limitations
The Alms1 mutation produces a cilia-related obesity syndrome; the transition from NAFL to NASH with severe fibrosis depends on the genetic background strain, and the specific Alms1 mutation may not directly recapitulate polygenic human NASH.

Experimental methods

Experimental protocols

  • 小鼠口服葡萄糖耐量试验(OGTT)

    This protocol adopts the protocols.io Oral Glucose Tolerance Test in Mouse v1. Mice are fasted for 4–6 hours, weighed, and given oral glucose at 1 g/kg (0.5 g/kg after at least 4 weeks of high-fat diet). Blood glucose is measured before and at 15, 30, 60, 90 and 120 minutes after the load, with tail-vein plasma collected at selected time points for insulin measurement. The record describes the assay procedure, not executed disease-model results.

  • Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) staining for histopathology

    Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining of fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue sections (4 μm). The workflow covers dewaxing, rehydration, hematoxylin nuclear staining, bluing, eosin counterstaining, dehydration and clearing, and coverslipping, yielding blue-purple nuclei and pink cytoplasm and connective tissue fibers for light-microscopic assessment of cellular and tissue morphology.

Reagents and materials

References

  1. NLRP3 inflammasome blockade reduces liver inflammation and fibrosis in experimental NASH in mice. Mridha Auvro R; Wree Alexander; Robertson Avril A B; et al. Journal of hepatology 2017.
  2. Heterogeneity of HSCs in a Mouse Model of NASH. Rosenthal Sara Brin; Liu Xiao; Ganguly Souradipta; et al. Hepatology (Baltimore, Md.) 2021.
  3. Bile acids contribute to the development of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis in mice. Gillard Justine; Clerbaux Laure-Alix; Nachit Maxime; et al. JHEP reports : innovation in hepatology 2022.
  4. Animal models of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: current perspectives and recent advances. Lau Jennie Ka Ching; Zhang Xiang; Yu Jun The Journal of pathology 2017.
  5. Preclinical models of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Santhekadur Prasanna K; Kumar Divya P; Sanyal Arun J Journal of hepatology 2018.
  6. Nancy Smith, Mourad Ferdaoussi, Haopeng Lin, Patrick Macdonald. Oral Glucose Tolerance Test in Mouse. protocols.io. https://doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.ujjeukn
  7. Benedé-Ubieto R, Estévez-Vázquez O, Ramadori P, Cubero FJ, Nevzorova YA. Guidelines and Considerations for Metabolic Tolerance Tests in Mice. Diabetes Metab Syndr Obes. 2020;13:439-450. PMID 32110077. doi:10.2147/DMSO.S234665
  8. ALPCO. STELLUX Chemi Rodent Insulin ELISA (Catalog #80-INSMR-CH01) instructions.
  9. Nathalia L. Oliveira; Samantha Gruenheid. Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) staining for histopathology. protocols.io, v1, 2026-07-31. DOI: 10.17504/protocols.io.kxygxr9jdg8j
  10. Epredia Signature Series Hematoxylin (7221), 产品信息页, Fisher Scientific
  11. Epredia Signature Series Bluing Reagent (7301), 产品信息页, Fisher Scientific
  12. Epredia Signature Series Eosin Y (7111), 产品信息页, Fisher Scientific
  13. Xylene, Fisherbrand HistoPrep (HC7001GAL), 产品信息页, Fisher Scientific
  14. Fisher Chemical Permount Mounting Medium (SP15 产品族), 产品信息页, Fisher Scientific
  15. Ethanol (CID 702, CAS 64-17-5), PubChem 化合物标准记录
  16. ARRIVE 2.0 guidelines