Contract research services within NASH

We have established and validated a diet-induced obese (DIO) mouse model of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) for chronic efficacy studies. The DIO-NASH model exhibits key hallmarks of NASH, including steatosis, inflammation and fibrosis, uniquely identified by pre-study liver biopsy and objectively assessed by individual histological changes from baseline (pre) to study end (post) using the clinical-derived NAFLD activity score and fibrosis stage.

Animals are constantly being diet-induced to allow for monthly conduction of NASH studies, and our pre/-post liver biopsies have proven especially valuable to our customers.

Our main offerings:

• Diet-induced obese (DIO) mouse model of NASH (DIO-NASH)
• Obese diet-induced ob/ob mouse model of NASH (ob/ob-NASH)
• Chronic (8-12 weeks) efficacy studies in mice randomized into study groups based on individual pre-biopsy histological assessment
• Metabolic assessment (body weight, food intake, glycaemia, insulinemia and glucose tolerance)
• Histological assessment of hepatic steatosis, inflammation, ballooning degeneration and fibrosis (HE, Sirius Red, IHC) levels
• Pathologist evaluated NAFLD Activity Score (NAS) including Fibrosis Stage
• Hepatic collagen content by hydroxyproline assay
• Hepatic triglyceride and cholesterol content
• RNA sequencing and bioinformatics
• Microbiome analysis