Alzet 2004 osmotic minipumps

All experiments were performed with permission from the Animal Welfare Committee of the Institute of Experimental Medicine (IEM, Permission Number: A5769-01) and in accordance with regulations of the European Community (Decree 86/609/EEC). Female Harlan-Wistar rats were purchased from Toxicoop (Budapest, Hungary) and housed on a 12 h light/12 h dark cycle in the animal care facility of IEM. The rats were used as breeders and retired at their age of 8 months, and then housed individually for the subsequent months. At their age of 13 months, rats were deeply anesthetized and ovariectomized bilaterally (Sarvari et al., 2010 (link)). Afterward, they were kept on phytoestrogen-free diet (Harlan Teklad Global Diets, Madison, WI). Ten days later, Alzet 2004 osmotic minipumps (DURECT, Cupertino, CA) filled either with DPN (3.3 mg/ml in propylene-glycol, n = 8, DPN group) or vehicle only (n = 8, control group) were implanted subcutaneously in the scruff of the neck of the animals. This treatment lasted for 29 days providing a dosage of 0.02 mg DPN/animal/day. The same animals and hippocampal samples have been used in a recent PCR study (Sarvari et al., 2014 (link)).

Male mice homozygous for the ApoE mutation (ApoE knock-out, B6.129P2-ApoE^tm1Unc/J@Him), aged 11 to 15 weeks, were kept on a normal diet. Suprarenal aneurysms were induced by subcutaneously implanted ALZET 2004 osmotic mini-pumps (DURECT Corp) releasing AngII (Bachem) at 1,000 ng/kg per minute for 28 days.²³ (link) Mice were monitored for aneurysm development by ultrasound at baseline (BL) (preoperatively) and day 8 and day 27 postoperatively.