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All Outputs (93)

Serum inflammatory cytokines as disease biomarkers in the DE50-MD dog model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (2022)
Journal Article
Piercy, R., Riddell, D., Hildyard, J., Harron, R., & Wells, D. (2022). Serum inflammatory cytokines as disease biomarkers in the DE50-MD dog model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Neuromuscular Disorders, https://doi.org/10.1242/dmm.049394

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a fatal muscle-wasting disease, caused by mutations in the dystrophin gene, characterised by cycles of muscle degeneration, inflammation and regeneration. The DE50-MD dog is a canine model of DMD that closely mimi... Read More about Serum inflammatory cytokines as disease biomarkers in the DE50-MD dog model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Longitudinal assessment of blood-borne musculoskeletal disease biomarkers in the DE50-MD dog model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (2022)
Journal Article
Riddell, D. O., Hildyard, J. C. W., Harron, R. C. M., Wells, D. J., & Piercy, R. J. (in press). Longitudinal assessment of blood-borne musculoskeletal disease biomarkers in the DE50-MD dog model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Wellcome Open Research, https://doi.org/10.12688/wellcomeopenres.17398.1

Background: Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a fatal muscle wasting disease affecting approximately 1 in 6000 male births worldwide. Due to their phenotypic similarity to human patients, large animal models are invaluable tools for pre-clinical t... Read More about Longitudinal assessment of blood-borne musculoskeletal disease biomarkers in the DE50-MD dog model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Validation of DE50-MD dogs as a model for the cognitive and biochemical defects in the brain phenotype of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (2022)
Journal Article
Crawford, A., Hildyard, J., Rushing, S., Wells, D., Diez Leon, M., & Piercy, R. (in press). Validation of DE50-MD dogs as a model for the cognitive and biochemical defects in the brain phenotype of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. eLife, https://doi.org/10.1242/dmm.049291

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), a fatal musculoskeletal disorder, is associated with neurodevelopmental problems and cognitive impairment caused by dystrophin deficiency in the brain. Dog models of DMD represent key translational tools to study... Read More about Validation of DE50-MD dogs as a model for the cognitive and biochemical defects in the brain phenotype of Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

The pen is milder than the blade: Identification marking mice using ink on the tail appears more humane than ear-punching even with local anaesthetic (2021)
Journal Article
Burn, C., Mazlan, N., Chancellor, N., & Wells, D. (2021). The pen is milder than the blade: Identification marking mice using ink on the tail appears more humane than ear-punching even with local anaesthetic. Animals, 11, https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11061664

Identification marking mice commonly involves ear-punching with or without anaesthetic, or tail-marking with ink. To identify which is most humane, we marked male BALB/c mice using ear-punching (EP), ear-punching with anaesthetic EMLATM cream (EP+A),... Read More about The pen is milder than the blade: Identification marking mice using ink on the tail appears more humane than ear-punching even with local anaesthetic.

Handling mice using gloves sprayed with alcohol-based hand sanitiser: acute effects on mouse behaviour (2021)
Journal Article
Burn, C., Lopez Salesansky, N., Wells, D., Whitfield, L., & Chancellor, N. (2021). Handling mice using gloves sprayed with alcohol-based hand sanitiser: acute effects on mouse behaviour. Animal Technology and Welfare, 20, 11-20

Alcohols are commonly used in laboratory animal facilities to disinfect hands, equipment and laboratory environments. The effect on mice is unknown, so we observed male and female C57BL/6J and BALB/c mice during and after handling with nitrile gloves... Read More about Handling mice using gloves sprayed with alcohol-based hand sanitiser: acute effects on mouse behaviour.

Animal Research beyond the Laboratory: Report from a Workshop on Places Other than Licensed Establishments (POLEs) in the UK (2020)
Journal Article
Palmer, A., Greenhough, B., Hobson-West, P., Message, R., Aegerter, J. N., Belshaw, Z., Dennison, N., Dickey, R., Lane, J., Lorimer, J., Millar, K., Newman, C., Pullen, K., Reynolds, S. J., Wells, D. J., Witt, M. J., & Wolfensohn, S. (2020). Animal Research beyond the Laboratory: Report from a Workshop on Places Other than Licensed Establishments (POLEs) in the UK. Animals, 10(10), e1868

Research involving animals that occurs outside the laboratory raises an array of unique challenges. With regard to UK legislation, however, it receives only limited attention in terms of official guidelines, support, and statistics, which are unsurpr... Read More about Animal Research beyond the Laboratory: Report from a Workshop on Places Other than Licensed Establishments (POLEs) in the UK.

Improving translatability of preclinical studies for neuromuscular disorders: lessons from the TREAT-NMD Advisory Committee for Therapeutics (TACT) (2020)
Journal Article
Willmann, R., Lee, J., Turner, C., Nagaraju, K., Aartsma-Rus, A., Wells, D. J., …De Luca, A. (2020). Improving translatability of preclinical studies for neuromuscular disorders: lessons from the TREAT-NMD Advisory Committee for Therapeutics (TACT). Disease Models and Mechanisms, 13(2), https://doi.org/10.1242/dmm.042903

Clinical trials for rare neuromuscular diseases imply, among other investments, a high emotional burden for the whole disease community. Translation of data from preclinical studies to justify any clinical trial must be carefully pondered in order to... Read More about Improving translatability of preclinical studies for neuromuscular disorders: lessons from the TREAT-NMD Advisory Committee for Therapeutics (TACT).

What is the level of dystrophin expression required for effective therapy of Duchenne muscular dystrophy? (2019)
Journal Article
Wells, D. J. (2019). What is the level of dystrophin expression required for effective therapy of Duchenne muscular dystrophy?. Journal of Muscle Research and Cell Motility, 40(2), 141-150. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10974-019-09535-9

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a fatal X-linked muscle wasting disease. The disease is due to mutations in the DMD gene that encodes for a large intracellular protein called dystrophin. Dystrophin plays a critical role in linking the internal c... Read More about What is the level of dystrophin expression required for effective therapy of Duchenne muscular dystrophy?.

Cmah-dystrophin deficient mdx mice display an accelerated cardiac phenotype that is improved following peptide-PMO exon skipping treatment (2019)
Journal Article
Betts, C. A., McClorey, G., Healicon, R., Hammond, S. M., Manzano, R., Muses, S., …Wood, M. J. (2019). Cmah-dystrophin deficient mdx mice display an accelerated cardiac phenotype that is improved following peptide-PMO exon skipping treatment. Human Molecular Genetics, 28(3), 396-406. https://doi.org/10.1093/hmg/ddy346

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is caused by loss of dystrophin protein, leading to progressive muscle weakness and premature death due to respiratory and/or cardiac complications. Cardiac involvement is characterized by progressive dilated cardiom... Read More about Cmah-dystrophin deficient mdx mice display an accelerated cardiac phenotype that is improved following peptide-PMO exon skipping treatment.

Identification of qPCR reference genes suitable for normalizing gene expression in the mdx mouse model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (2019)
Journal Article
Hildyard, J. C. W., Finch, A. M., & Wells, D. J. (2019). Identification of qPCR reference genes suitable for normalizing gene expression in the mdx mouse model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. PLoS ONE, 14(1), e0211384. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0211384

The mdx mouse is the most widely-used animal model of the human disease Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and quantitative PCR analysis of gene expression in the muscles of this animal plays a key role in the study of pathogenesis and disease progression... Read More about Identification of qPCR reference genes suitable for normalizing gene expression in the mdx mouse model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

"Of Mice and Measures": A Project to Improve How We Advance Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Therapies to the Clinic (2018)
Journal Article
Gordish-Dressman, H., Willmann, R., Dalle Pazze, L., Kreibich, A., van Putten, M., Heydemann, A., …Aartsma-Rus, A. (2018). "Of Mice and Measures": A Project to Improve How We Advance Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Therapies to the Clinic. Journal of Neuromuscular Diseases, 5(4), 407-414. https://doi.org/10.3233/JND-180324

A new line of dystrophic mdx mice on the DBA/2J (D2) background has emerged as a candidate to study the efficacy of therapeutic approaches for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). These mice harbor genetic polymorphisms that appear to increase the seve... Read More about "Of Mice and Measures": A Project to Improve How We Advance Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Therapies to the Clinic.

Focus on the Role of D-serine and D-amino Acid Oxidase in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis/Motor Neuron Disease (ALS) (2018)
Journal Article
Kondori, N. R., Paul, P., Robbins, J. P., Liu, K., Hildyard, J. C. W., Wells, D. J., & De Belleroche, J. S. (2018). Focus on the Role of D-serine and D-amino Acid Oxidase in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis/Motor Neuron Disease (ALS). Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences, 5(8), https://doi.org/10.3389/fmolb.2018.00008

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 virus has been circulating in Vietnam since 2003, while outbreaks of HPAI H5N6 virus are more recent, having only been reported since 2014. Although the spatial distribution of H5N1 outbreaks and risk fac... Read More about Focus on the Role of D-serine and D-amino Acid Oxidase in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis/Motor Neuron Disease (ALS).

Olfactory variation in mouse husbandry and its implications for refinement and standardisation: UK survey of non-animal scents (2016)
Journal Article
Lopez-Salesansky, N., Mazlan, N. H., Whitfield, L. E., Wells, D. J., & Burn, C. C. (2016). Olfactory variation in mouse husbandry and its implications for refinement and standardisation: UK survey of non-animal scents. Laboratory Animals, 50(4), 286-295. https://doi.org/10.1177/0023677215614296

With their highly sensitive olfactory system, the behaviour and physiology of mice are not only influenced by the scents of conspecifics and other species, but also by many other chemicals in the environment. The constraints of laboratory housing lim... Read More about Olfactory variation in mouse husbandry and its implications for refinement and standardisation: UK survey of non-animal scents.

Transgenic Rescue of the LARGEmyd Mouse: A LARGE Therapeutic Window? (2016)
Journal Article
Hildyard, J. C. W., Lacey, E., Booler, H., Hopkinson, M., Wells, D. J., & Brown, S. C. (2016). Transgenic Rescue of the LARGEmyd Mouse: A LARGE Therapeutic Window?. PLoS ONE, 11(7), e0159853. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0159853

LARGE is a glycosyltransferase involved in glycosylation of α-dystroglycan (α-DG). Absence of this protein in the LARGEmyd mouse results in α-DG hypoglycosylation, and is associated with central nervous system abnormalities and progressive muscular d... Read More about Transgenic Rescue of the LARGEmyd Mouse: A LARGE Therapeutic Window?.