Visualizing fixed cells and tissues only gives snapshots of cellular processes. To have a better insight into dynamic events ocurring in the cells or to vizualize interactions between various cellular components in real time (e.g., proteins, organelles, second messengers…), powerful microscopic approaches have been developed over the past decade. This post will review the recent live cell imaging probes developed by Goryo Chemicalsand available in Europe through tebu-bio.

The Murphy Roths Large-MRL engineered mouse strain spontaneously regenerates ears and even heart tissue.  Such a regenerative process is known for amphibians; mammals generally forming scar tissue during the process of wound repair. The groups of Ellen Heber-Katz (The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, PA) and Phillip B. Messersmith (Northwestern University, Evanston, IL) discovered these exceptional capabilities a few years ago. By using this unique model, the scientists have recently shown that Hypoxia-Inducible Factor-1 alpha (HIF-1alpha) is involved in mammalian tissue regeneration (Zhang Y. et al. “Drug-induced regeneration in adult mice”(2015) Sci. Transl. Med. DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.3010228).

A recent review by Nadim et al. casts some light on a Cosmetology and Dermatology, where circulating biomarkers, though studied to a certain extent so far, are yet unknown for many skin models. (1) A first element to have in mind when considering the skin-related experimental model is the “Oxygen level”. Oxygen levels may contribute to different findings, and the in vitro models used so far may not be so physiologically relevant as initially thought.

Today, I’d like to invite you to take a look at the 5 posts describing a pathway that saw the most visits on our blog in 2014. 

Just follow the links if you haven’t read them yet (or if you want to browse them again, feel free!).