CORE--ARCH Facility

Meharry Medical College, Nashville TN

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

The long-term objectives of the proposed Meharry Medical College ARCH Facility Core is to augment and[unreadable] expand the capacity of the existing Inhalation Toxicology Facility and the Environment Toxicology laboratory[unreadable] to perform B(a)P exposures, both inhalation and oral, and to assess tissue deposition of the toxin and[unreadable] metabolites. Doing so will enable better quality control, while reducing costs to the individual investigator[unreadable] and in case of the ARCH Program will facilitate the understanding of the molecular mechanism of B(a)P[unreadable] toxicity. The Short term aims are: 1) To provide a well-integrated facility core to provide for the purchase,[unreadable] exposure, animal husbandry and analysis of B (a) P parent compound/ metabolites from each organ system[unreadable] under study in each ARCH research/pilot project, and 2) To continually enhance and refine technology. As[unreadable] an example, we are exploring introducing state-of-the-art single-cell nanobiosensor technology for the[unreadable] analysis of B(a)P metabolites in single cells or small cell groups, for future studies by our investigators.[unreadable] The Inhalation Toxicology Facility is Directed by the PD, Dr. Darryl Hood, while an ARCH investigator, Dr.[unreadable] Aramandla Ramesh, directs the Environmental Toxicology laboratory. Both of the investigators have[unreadable] extensive experience relative to their responsibility to this core.[unreadable] Mice models will be used to exploit the use of transgenic mice when appropriate so as to allow for the[unreadable] development of a more mechanistic approach in all projects. For example, Dr. Ramesh and Dr. Morrow are[unreadable] testing the hypothesis that B (a) P exposure will accelerate the progression of colon cancer using the Pac[unreadable] Min+/- transgenic mouse model. Similarly, the hypothesis of Drs. Ogunkua and Matusik is that B(a)P[unreadable] exposure will shift the dose-response curve to the left with respect to the progression from pre-neoplastic foci[unreadable] to the adenocarcinoma in the 12t-7f transgenic LADY mouse model. Drs. Ansah and Deutch will employ the[unreadable] use of C57BL/6J mice, as this will offer them the opportunity to test their hypothesis in transgenic mice that[unreadable] overexpress antioxidant enzymes. In the case of the Hood/Aschner project, the shift from rats to mice will[unreadable] allow for the of transgenic mouse models which has a "built in" advantage for future studies that will use +/-[unreadable] and -/- knockouts on this C57BL background.