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Bolon B, Francke S, Caverly Rae JM, Polack E, Regan KS, McInnes EF, Young JK, Keane K, Perry R, Romeike A, Colman K, Jensen K, Nakano-Ito K, Galbreath EJ. Scientific and Regulatory Policy Committee Best Practices: Recommended ("Best") Practices for Informed (Non-blinded) Versus Masked (Blinded) Microscopic Evaluation in Animal Toxicity Studies. Toxicol Pathol 2022; 50:930-941. [PMID: 36377245 DOI: 10.1177/01926233221135563] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
This article describes the Society of Toxicologic Pathology's (STP) five recommended ("best") practices for appropriate use of informed (non-blinded) versus masked (blinded) microscopic evaluation in animal toxicity studies intended for regulatory review. (1) Informed microscopic evaluation is the default approach for animal toxicity studies. (2) Masked microscopic evaluation has merit for confirming preliminary diagnoses for target organs and/or defining thresholds ("no observed adverse effect level" and similar values) identified during an initial informed evaluation, addressing focused hypotheses, or satisfying guidance or requests from regulatory agencies. (3) If used as the approach for an animal toxicity study to investigate a specific research question, masking of the initial microscopic evaluation should be limited to withholding only information about the group (control or test article-treated) and dose equivalents. (4) The decision regarding whether or not to perform a masked microscopic evaluation is best made by a toxicologic pathologist with relevant experience. (5) Pathology peer review, performed to verify the microscopic diagnoses and interpretations by the study pathologist, should use an informed evaluation approach. The STP maintains that implementing these five best practices has and will continue to consistently deliver robust microscopic data with high sensitivity for animal toxicity studies intended for regulatory review. Consequently, when conducting animal toxicity studies, the advantages of informed microscopic evaluation for maximizing sensitivity outweigh the perceived advantages of minimizing bias through masked microscopic examination.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Sabine Francke
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration, College Park, Maryland, USA
| | | | | | | | | | | | - Kevin Keane
- Blueprint Medicines, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| | | | | | - Karyn Colman
- Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
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Canagliflozin retards age-related lesions in heart, kidney, liver, and adrenal gland in genetically heterogenous male mice. GeroScience 2022; 45:385-397. [PMID: 35974129 PMCID: PMC9886729 DOI: 10.1007/s11357-022-00641-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2022] [Accepted: 08/04/2022] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Canagliflozin (Cana), a clinically important anti-diabetes drug, leads to a 14% increase in median lifespan and a 9% increase in the 90th percentile age when given to genetically heterogeneous male mice from 7 months of age, but does not increase lifespan in female mice. A histopathological study was conducted on 22-month-old mice to see if Cana retarded diverse forms of age-dependent pathology. This agent was found to diminish incidence or severity, in male mice only, of cardiomyopathy, glomerulonephropathy, arteriosclerosis, hepatic microvesicular cytoplasmic vacuolation (lipidosis), and adrenal cortical neoplasms. Protection against atrophy of the exocrine pancreas was seen in both males and females. Thus, the extension of lifespan in Cana-treated male mice, which is likely to reflect host- or tumor-mediated delay in lethal neoplasms, is accompanied by parallel retardation of lesions, in multiple tissues, that seldom if ever lead to death in these mice. Canagliflozin thus can be considered a drug that acts to slow the aging process and should be evaluated for potential protective effects against many other late-life conditions.
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Ostfeld N, Islam MM, Jelocnik M, Hilbe M, Sydler T, Hartnack S, Jacobson C, Clune T, Marsh I, Sales N, Polkinghorne A, Borel N. Chlamydia pecorum-Induced Arthritis in Experimentally and Naturally Infected Sheep. Vet Pathol 2020; 58:346-360. [PMID: 33208021 DOI: 10.1177/0300985820973461] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
Chlamydia pecorum is an obligate intracellular pathogen with a wide host range including livestock such as sheep, cattle, goats, and pigs as well as wildlife species such as koalas. Chlamydial polyarthritis is an economically important disease resulting in swollen joints, lameness, stiffness, and weight loss in young sheep. In the present study, tissues from sheep experimentally or naturally infected with Chlamydia pecorum were assessed by histopathology and immunohistochemistry. Carpal, hock, and stifle joints as well as spleen, liver, kidney, lymph nodes, lung, and brain of 35 sheep from different inoculation groups were available. Two different C. pecorum strains (IPA and E58), different routes of administration (intraarticular or intravenous), UVA-irradiated IPA strain, and corresponding noninfected control groups were investigated. Similar investigations on tissues from 5 naturally infected sheep were performed. The most obvious inflammatory lesions were observed in synovial tissues and, notably, in the renal pelvis from the experimentally infected group and naturally infected animals. This resulted in chronic or chronic-active arthritis and pyelitis. Intralesional chlamydial inclusions could be demonstrated by immunohistochemistry in both tissues. Immunohistochemical evaluation of the presence and distribution of macrophages, T and B cells in synovial tissues revealed macrophages as the most prevalent inflammatory cell population. Previous observations indicated that C. pecorum isolates can infect circulating monocytes. Together with the finding of the histological lesions in synovial tissues and internal organs alongside the presence of C. pecorum DNA, these observations suggest chlamydial arthritis in lambs is the result of hematogeneous spread of C. pecorum.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Mominul M Islam
- 5333University of the Sunshine Coast, Sippy Downs, Queensland, Australia.,Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University, Dinajpur, Bangladesh
| | - Martina Jelocnik
- 5333University of the Sunshine Coast, Sippy Downs, Queensland, Australia
| | | | | | | | | | - Tom Clune
- 5673Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
| | - Ian Marsh
- NSW Department of Primary Industries, 153388Elizabeth Macarthur Agricultural Institut, Menangle, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Narelle Sales
- NSW Department of Primary Industries, 153388Elizabeth Macarthur Agricultural Institut, Menangle, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Adam Polkinghorne
- 6488Nepean Hospital, NSW Health Pathology, Penrith, New South Wales, Australia.,University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
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Caswell JL, Bassel LL, Rothenburger JL, Gröne A, Sargeant JM, Beck AP, Ekman S, Gibson-Corley KN, Kuiken T, LaDouceur EEB, Meyerholz DK, Origgi FC, Posthaus H, Priestnall SL, Ressel L, Sharkey L, Teixeira LBC, Uchida K, Ward JM, Webster JD, Yamate J. Observational Study Design in Veterinary Pathology, Part 2: Methodology. Vet Pathol 2018; 55:774-785. [DOI: 10.1177/0300985818798121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Observational studies are a basis for much of our knowledge of veterinary pathology, yet considerations for conducting pathology-based observational studies are not readily available. In part 1 of this series, we offered advice on planning and carrying out an observational study. Part 2 of the series focuses on methodology. Our general recommendations are to consider using already-validated methods, published guidelines, data from primary sources, and quantitative analyses. We discuss 3 common methods in pathology research—histopathologic scoring, immunohistochemistry, and polymerase chain reaction—to illustrate principles of method validation. Some aspects of quality control include use of clear objective grading criteria, validation of key reagents, assessing sample quality, determining specificity and sensitivity, use of technical and biologic negative and positive controls, blinding of investigators, approaches to minimizing operator-dependent variation, measuring technical variation, and consistency in analysis of the different study groups. We close by discussing approaches to increasing the rigor of observational studies by corroborating results with complementary methods, using sufficiently large numbers of study subjects, consideration of the data in light of similar published studies, replicating the results in a second study population, and critical analysis of the study findings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeff L. Caswell
- Department of Pathobiology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada
| | - Laura L. Bassel
- Department of Pathobiology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada
| | - Jamie L. Rothenburger
- Department of Ecosystem and Public Health; Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative (Alberta), Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Andrea Gröne
- Department of Pathobiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - Jan M. Sargeant
- Department of Population Medicine and Centre for Public Health and Zoonoses, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada
| | | | - Stina Ekman
- Department of Biomedicine and Veterinary Public Health, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Katherine N. Gibson-Corley
- Department of Pathology, Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
| | - Thijs Kuiken
- Department of Viroscience, Erasmus University Medical Centre, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
| | | | - David K. Meyerholz
- University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, 1165 Medical Laboratories, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, IA, USA
| | - Francesco C. Origgi
- Centre for Fish and Wildlife Health, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Horst Posthaus
- Institute of Animal Pathology, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Simon L. Priestnall
- Department of Pathobiology & Population Sciences, Royal Veterinary College, Hatfield, UK
| | - Lorenzo Ressel
- Department of Veterinary Pathology and Public Health, Institute of Veterinary Science, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
| | - Leslie Sharkey
- Department of Clinical Sciences, Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, North Grafton, MA, USA
| | - Leandro B. C. Teixeira
- Department of Pathobiological Sciences, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI, USA
| | - Kazuyuki Uchida
- Department of Veterinary Pathology, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | | | | | - Jyoji Yamate
- Laboratory of Veterinary Pathology, Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Osaka Prefecture University, Izumisano City, Osaka, Japan
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