Seven-week old male Sprague-Dawley rats were purchased from Harlan Sprague-Dawley (Indianapolis, IN) and acclimated in a controlled environment animal room (temperature, 22°C; relative humidity, 50%; photoperiod, 12-h light/dark cycle) for 7 days prior to dosing. Twelve animals were randomly divided into 2 groups. One group of 6 rats received 1 mmol/kg/day aniline hydrochloride (~97%; Aldrich, Milwaukee, WI) in 0.5 ml of drinking water by gavage for 7 days, while the other 6 rats (control group) received 0.5 ml of water only (Khan et al. 1997 (link), 2003 (link), Wang et al. 2008 (link), 2010 (link), Wu et al. 2005 (link)).
Choice of dose and duration of exposure was based on earlier studies (Khan et al. 1997 (link), 2003 (link), Wang et al. 2008 (link), 2010 (link), Wu et al. 2005 (link)). The rats were euthanized 24 h following last dose and the spleens were collected, weighed and divided into several portions for use in various analyses. Portions of the spleen were snap-frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored at −80°C for RNA isolation and protein extraction. All animal experiments for this study were conducted in accordance with the guidelines of the National Institutes of Health and were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee at the University of Texas Medical Branch.
Choice of dose and duration of exposure was based on earlier studies (Khan et al. 1997 (link), 2003 (link), Wang et al. 2008 (link), 2010 (link), Wu et al. 2005 (link)). The rats were euthanized 24 h following last dose and the spleens were collected, weighed and divided into several portions for use in various analyses. Portions of the spleen were snap-frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored at −80°C for RNA isolation and protein extraction. All animal experiments for this study were conducted in accordance with the guidelines of the National Institutes of Health and were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee at the University of Texas Medical Branch.
