**9. References**


<sup>\*</sup> Corresponding Author

[3] Tong W, Cao X, Harris S, Sun H, Fang H, et al. (2003) ArrayTrack--supporting toxicogenomic research at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration National Center for Toxicological Research. Environ Health Perspect 111(15):1819-182

116 Blood Cell – An Overview of Studies in Hematology

from the others.

**Author details** 

Junko Takahashi\*

Masaki Misawa

Hitoshi Iwahashi

**9. References** 

Corresponding Author

 \*

*Takamatsu, Kagawa, Japan* 

weeks of age was comparable to that among 30 weeks individuals. These results indicate that uniformity of laboratory animals is expected for miniature pigs after 20 weeks of age.

In dietary-induced hyperlipidemia study, feeding treatments commenced when the pigs were 12 weeks old, RNA analysis was conducted on whole blood sampled after 10, 19, and 27 weeks of the feeding period. Variation in whole blood gene expression intensity among individuals within the HFCD group was in the same range as that of the controls at any period, indicating uniformity of dietary-induced hyperlipidemia expression profiles in miniature pigs. Dietaryinduced transitions of gene expression profiles for genes bearing GO terms were examined. Major changes included an induction of proteins involved in catabolic processes and protein metabolism after a 19-week dietary period, and a reduced expression of proteins involved in

In several kinds of stress study, the degree (extent) of stress can be comparable according to the gene number of up-regulate, or down-regulate, even if the stress is different in kind

A possibility was shown that whole blood RNA analysis is applicable to evaluation of physiological state. By considering variation in gene expression profiles of miniature pigs, whole blood RNA analyses can be used in practical applications. The blood RNA diagnostics under development may eventually be useful for monitoring human health.

*National Metrology Institute of Japan, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science* 

*Human Technology Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science* 

*Health Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology,* 

[1] Williams-Devane CR, Wolf MA, Richard AM (2009) Toward a public toxicogenomics capability for supporting predictive toxicology: survey of current resources and chemical indexing of experiments in GEO and ArrayExpress. Toxicol Sci 109(2):358-371. [2] Pennie W, Pettit SD, Lord PG (2004) Toxicogenomics in risk assessment: an overview of an HESI collaborative research program. Environ Health Perspect 112(4):417-419.

steroid metabolism and lipid biosynthesis after a 27-week dietary period.

and Akiko Takatsu

*Faculty of Applied Biological Sciences, Gifu University, Gifu, Japan* 

*and Technology, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan* 

*and Technology, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan* 


[21] Russell JC, Proctor SD. (2006), Small animal models of cardiovascular disease: tools for the study of the roles of metabolic syndrome, dyslipidemia, and atherosclerosis. Cardiovasc Pathol 15(6):318-330.

**Chapter 7** 

© 2012 Hayashi, licensee InTech. This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2012 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution,

© 2012 Hayashi, licensee InTech. This is a paper distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

**Proliferation and Differentiation of** 

**of Immune Functions** 

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

Osamu Hayashi

**1. Introduction** 

microenvironment.

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/48322

**Hematopoietic Cells and Preservation** 

A limited number of pluripotent stem cells are mainly located in the bone marrow, and give rise to all blood cell 1ineages. Because of their relatively short lifespan, circulating cells must be continually replaced in living body throughout the life. The task performed by hematopoietic stem cells is shared in two main features, that is, the capacity of regeneration which prevents depletion of the cells and the ability of preservation of blood homeostasis. The mechanisms behind the critical choice between lineage-commitment and maintenance of the stem-cell pool involve a number of complex interactions between hematopoietic progenitor cells at different stages of maturation, stromal cells and their extracellular matrix, as well as a variety of stimulatory or inhibitory cytokines provided by the

Hematopoietic growth factors were first identified in the 1960s as soluble agents produced in spleen, uterus or lung, and found to maintain the formation of differentiated colonies from hematopoietic progenitor cells in semisolid culture systems. Hence they were named colony-stimulating factors, CSFs (Schneider and Dy, 1999). Most of these molecules have been purified and their genes have been sequenced. They are currently available in

Hematopoietic growth factors or CSFs can be divided into two categories, according to their target cell specificity (Figure 1). One group comprises the factors whose activity is relatively restricted to particular cell types, such as macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF) for macrophages, granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) for neutrophils, interleukin-5 (IL-5) for eosinophils and B cells, and thrombopoietin (Tpo) for megakaryocytes and erythropoietin (Epo) for the erythroid lineage. The second category of growth factors has a

and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

recombinant form and have been used with success in clinical trials.


**Chapter 7** 
