Stelic Institute & Co..

Stelic’s research team has established a novel animal model which shows similar histopathology to human non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). The model is non-genetic and develops NASH on a basis of insulin resistance, hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia followed by severe liver fibrosis and nodule formation, and finally hepatocellular carcinoma. Using this proprietary model mice, we can assist you with your preclinical pharmacological studies including protocol design, study conduct, data analyses and report generation.
Many customers including global pharmaceuticals companies are using our CRO service.

Features and advantages of Stelic’s NASH mouse are as follows
(also see diagram below)

　1. Histological phenotype similar to human NASH
　2. Clear disease onset with no exception
　　<No need to monitor the onset of asymptomatic NASH>
　3. Sequential changes from steatosis to NASH/fibrosis and from NASH/fibrosis to nodule
　　 occur within 2 weeks, respectively
　　<Efficacy of drug candidates in the treatment can be evaluated in short term>
　4. NASH-derived liver tumor
　　<A definitive endpoint of NASH therapy can be investigated>

Stelic’s research team has:
・ SPF-grade mouse facility
・ A high degree of professionalism in therapeutic research of inflammation, fibrosis and
　 cancer.
・ Technical proficiency of in vivo experiments
・ Expertise in histopathology with state-of-the-art technology for imaging analyses

Study design:
Stelic can assist you with protocol design to generate reliable results from each study. Common in vivo assays for the development of NASH (from steatosis to steatohepatitis/fibrosis) and the progression of NASH (from fibrosis to nodule/HCC) include: histopathology, serum biochemistry, liver biochemistry, gene expression and additional parameters. All tests will be carried out at our own state-of-the-art facility located in Tokyo, Japan.


Assays and Endpoints
Histology
・ HE staining (NAFLD Activity Score)
・ Masson’s trichrome staining
・ Oil Red staining
・ Sirius Red staining
・ Immunostaining for inflammation, fibrosis and tumor markers

Serum biochemistory
・ Blood glucose
・ ALT
・ AST
・ Triglyceride
・ Insulin tolerance test

Liver biochemistry
・ Triglyceride
・ Collagen
・ Oxidative stress markers

Gene expression
・ Lipogenesis-related genes
・ Inflammation-related genes
・ Fibrosis-related genes

Additional parameters
・ Clinical observations
・ Body weight
・ Liver weight
・ Survival rate (for cancer research)

Collagen Content in the Liver Tissue

Examples of pharmacological studies using our NASH model