l1/2 Flashcards
what are the main goals in modelling human disease studies?
we want to discover, when, where how and why diseases start and spread
- with this information therapeutic aid can become achievable
give some of the top 10 causes of death (in the US)
- heart disease
- cancer
- chronic resp conditions
- diabetes
- alzheimers
- mental health
what happens in diabetes mellitus?
- the body cannot control blood glucose levels
- abnormally high levels of blood glucose (hyperglycaemia)
- persistently high levels of blood glucose can lead to blood vessel and nerve damage
- diabetes can lead to obesity which increases the risk of heart disease
what is heart disease characterised as?
build up of plaque in arterial walls
- could prevent/ disrupt blood flow and put a strain on the heart
what is cancer characterised as?
Uncontrollable growth and spread of abnormal cells
- is cells spread they can interfere with life sustaining systems which can result in death
how do neurodegenerative disorders arise?
- from loss of neuron/ nerves
e. g. parkinsons and motor neuron disease
what is a model organism?
non-human species extensively studied to understand particular biological phenomena
what model organism is commonly used to study the cell cycle?
yeast
what makes model organisms practical to study diseases mirrored in humans?
- genes and gene actions are conserved
- ways bodies are built and manages are conserved
- is easy to interfere with genes in model organisms
- can see in body and watch over time/a lifecourse
- identify lifecourse genes and events
why do we use animal models?
- need to look at disease and dysfunction over a lifecourse - most diseases develop over a lifecourse
(mouse/zebrafish - 3 year lifespan) - Examine gene x environment interactions
(experience dependent environmental conditions may interact with geneotype to trigger/exacerbate disease) - understand mechanism from correlation to cause
(GWAS)
What is GWAS?
Genome Wide Association Study
- identifies gene variants which correlate with disease susceptibility
- manhatten plot used to identify gene variants
what techniques can we use to see where and when a gene is expressed?
- immunohistochemistry
- in-situ hybridisation
what do transgenic reporter lines enable?
- visualisation of cells/tissues in a living organism over real time
- isolation of labelled cells/tissue (facs)
- large numbers of animals - statistical significance
- whole organism/systems analysis
- transgenic reporter lines followed over time and after drug administration
- follow reporter lines over time and perform analysis in cell behaviour
giev an example of a new imaging technique and what this allows?
- light sheet microscopy
- allows fluorescently labelled cells to be follows in vivo with high resolution
- coupled to transgenic reporter lines
