There is a critical need to develop therapies to prevent radiation exposure related deaths resulting from gastrointestinal and bone marrow toxicities. Currently, only potassium iodide is recognized as a radio-protectant in this context, protecting only the thyroid from ingested radioactive iodine. At BioModels, evaluate your test compounds for efficacy in targeting the GI tract, the bone marrow, or both in our total body irradiation mouse model. Non-anesthetized animals are placed in a pie-shaped multi-chamber plastic restrainer and placed inside the radiation source. A single, precise dose of total body irradiation (x-ray) at varying levels is administered to groups of mice to generate a dose response curve. The radiation dose can be titrated to achieve the lethal dose appropriate for your study. The main endpoints of the model include survival and body weight change. Histological endpoints can also be examined to address the mechanism of action.

• Advantages: Good for screening potential drug candidates, consistent disease incidence.
• Disadvantages: Survival as a primary endpoint minimizes sample collection, two radiation doses are highly recommended.

• Mice-multiple strains

• Survival
• Percent weight change
• Blood Cell Count (CBC)
• Terminal histopathology and/or IHC analyses

• Systemic Cytokine Analysis
• Gene expression
• Custom assays