mouse model

It’s not clear why grain-fed mice are better able to recover after infection, but a study’s findings suggest food type may skew the results of animal studies.

In stressful conditions, specialized protein complexes in microglia induce neurotoxic activity in astrocytes that leads to the change in behavior.

Human and mouse oral tumors recruit nerves to produce peptides that the cancer cells need to survive—but this process can be blocked with a migraine drug.

A high-fat diet induced changes to the animals’ vaginal microbiomes that boosted survival after exposure to the virus.

Immune cells get a lot of shine when it comes to fighting infection, but it turns out that fat might be just as important for removing parasitic invaders.

Specific neurons in the brainstem control sickness behaviors not directly caused by a pathogen, such as tiredness and lack of appetite, a mouse study finds.

Mice with overactive LINE-1 retrotransposons in their brains exhibit movement difficulties, suggesting the genetic elements may play a role in ataxia in humans. 

A single amino acid substitution in a protein causes increased neuron production in the frontal lobes of humans compared to Neanderthals—a tiny difference that could have given our species a cognitive edge, researchers say.

The findings will likely help elucidate the effects of chromosome fusions, which can cause disease but have also contributed to evolution.

Disturbing circadian rhythms in organoids and mice increases intestinal tumor growth, findings that may explain a recent rise in colon cancer among young adults, the researchers behind the work say.

Mixtures of viruses that attack inflammatory bowel disease–causing bacteria in mice also survive the digestive tract and are well-tolerated in humans, a study finds.

Using stem cells and a bioreactor, researchers generated living embryos that survived for more than a week and began to develop internal organs.

Scientists say they have finally figured out why some people with severe malaria end up with dangerous hypoglycemia, also reporting that the condition starves the parasite into changing tactics from virulence to transmission.

Head and neck cancer cells lacking the peptide involved in energy production were less likely to metastasize in mice.

More cancer cells are shed from primary tumors when individuals are asleep than when they’re awake, according to observations in mouse models and a small cohort of breast cancer patients.

Delivering antioxidants via extracellular vesicles to atrophied muscles restores them during rehabilitation.

A sugar that’s less abundant in the blood of people with diabetes binds to SARS-CoV-2’s spike protein and disrupts the virus’s ability to fuse with cells.  

New research in mice reveals why natural killer cells, normally effective at hunting cancer, are sometimes stopped in their tracks.