Necroptosis Is a Mechanism of Death in Mouse Induced Hepatocyte-Like Cells Reprogrammed from Mouse Embryonic Fibroblasts

Guidelines for evaluating myocardial cell death

Cell death is a fundamental process in cardiac pathologies. Recent studies have revealed multiple forms of cell death, and several of them have been demonstrated to underlie adverse cardiac remodeling and heart failure. With the expansion in the area of myocardial cell death and increasing concerns over rigor and reproducibility, it is important and timely to set a guideline for the best practices of evaluating myocardial cell death. There are six major forms of regulated cell death observed in cardiac pathologies, namely apoptosis, necroptosis, mitochondrial-mediated necrosis, pyroptosis, ferroptosis, and autophagic cell death. In this article, we describe the best methods to identify, measure, and evaluate these modes of myocardial cell death. In addition, we discuss the limitations of currently practiced myocardial cell death mechanisms.

Experimental Applications of in situ Liver Perfusion Machinery for the Study of Liver Disease

The liver is involved in a wide range of activities in vertebrates and some other animals, including metabolism, protein synthesis, detoxification, and the immune system. Until now, various methods have been devised to study liver diseases; however, each method has its own limitations. In situ liver perfusion machinery, originally developed in rats, has been successfully adapted to mice, enabling the study of liver diseases. Here we describe the protocol, which is a simple but widely applicable method for investigating the liver diseases. The liver is perfused in situ by cannulation of the portal vein and suprahepatic inferior vena cava (IVC), with antegrade closed circuit circulation completed by clamping the infrahepatic IVC. In situ liver perfusion can be utilized to evaluate immune cell migration and function, hemodynamics and related cellular reactions in each type of hepatic cells, and the metabolism of toxic or other compounds by changing the composition of the circulating media. In situ liver perfusion method maintains liver function and cell viability for up to 2 h. This study also describes an optional protocol using density-gradient centrifugation for the separation of different types of hepatic cells, allowing the determination of changes in each cell type. In summary, this method of in situ liver perfusion will be useful for studying liver diseases as a complement to other established methods.