A Laboratory Guide to the Tight Junction offers broad coverage of the unique methods required to investigate its characteristics. The methods are described in detail, including its biochemical and biophysical principles, step-by-step process, data analysis, troubleshooting, and optimization. The coverage includes various cell, tissue, and animal models. Chapter 1 provides the foundations of cell biology of tight junction. Chapter 2 covers the Biochemical approaches for paracellular channels and is followed by chapter 3 providing the Biophysical approaches. Chapter 4 describes and discusses Histological approaches for tissue fixation and preparation. Chapter 5 discusses Light microscopy, while chapter 6 presents Electron microscopic approaches. Chapter 7 covers Transgenic manipulation in cell cultures, including DNA and siRNA, Mutagenesis, and viral infection. Chapter 8 covers transgenic manipulation in mice, including: Knockout, Knockin, siRNA knockdown, GFP/LacZ reporter, and overexpression. The final chapter discusses the future developments of new approaches for tight junction research. Researchers and advanced students in bioscience working on topics of cell junction, ion channel and membrane protein will benefit from the described methods. Clinicians and pathologists interested in tissue barrier diseases will also benefit from the biochemical and biophysical characterization of tight junctions in organ systems, and their connection to human diseases. - Provides consistent and detailed research methods - Covers various cell, tissue and animal models - Includes step-by-step guidance from beginner to sophisticated levels

Never before has there been such a comprehensive book of protocols. This compendium offers a full range of research techniques-from cell culture, to biochemical, to microscopic and genetic. More focused books, like Cold Spring Harbor's Manipulating the Mouse Embryo, are similar though more narrow in scope. This book will appeal to a broad range of researchers, from basic experimental scientists to clinical and animal scientists.

“Infogest” (Improving Health Properties of Food by Sharing our Knowledge on the Digestive Process) is an EU COST action/network in the domain of Food and Agriculture that will last for 4 years from April 4, 2011. Infogest aims at building an open international network of institutes undertaking multidisciplinary basic research on food digestion gathering scientists from different origins (food scientists, gut physiologists, nutritionists...). The network gathers 70 partners from academia, corresponding to a total of 29 countries. The three main scientific goals are: Identify the beneficial food components released in the gut during digestion; Support the effect of beneficial food components on human health; Promote harmonization of currently used digestion models Infogest meetings highlighted the need for a publication that would provide researchers with an insight into the advantages and disadvantages associated with the use of respective in vitro and ex vivo assays to evaluate the effects of foods and food bioactives on health. Such assays are particularly important in situations where a large number of foods/bioactives need to be screened rapidly and in a cost effective manner in order to ultimately identify lead foods/bioactives that can be the subject of in vivo assays. The book is an asset to researchers wishing to study the health benefits of their foods and food bioactives of interest and highlights which in vitro/ex vivo assays are of greatest relevance to their goals, what sort of outputs/data can be generated and, as noted above, highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the various assays. It is also an important resource for undergraduate students in the ‘food and health’ arena.

This practical, extensively illustrated handbook covers the procedures that are undertaken in andrology and ART laboratories to analyse and assess male-factor infertility, and to prepare spermatozoa for use in assisted conception therapy. The content is presented as brief, authoritative overviews of the relevant biological background for each area, plus detailed, step-by-step descriptions of the relevant analytical procedures. Each technical section includes pertinent quality control considerations, as well as the optimum presentation of results. In addition to the comprehensive 'basic' semen analysis, incorporating careful analysis of sperm morphology, the handbook provides established techniques for the use of computer-aided sperm analysis and sperm functional assessment. Throughout the handbook the interpretation of laboratory results in the clinical context is highlighted, and safe laboratory practice is emphasized. It is an invaluable resource to all scientists and technicians who perform diagnostic testing for male-factor infertility.