Diets of rodents may have tainted decades of research

Dallas Morning News ^ | 08/01/2006 | By SUE GOETINCK AMBROSE

[oxcart]

For decades, in thousands of laboratories across the country, biomedical researchers have relied on laboratory rats and mice to devise treatments for cancer, heart disease, inflammation and a host of other human afflictions.

But what if, despite all the rigorous procedures to ensure valuable test results, many of those studies have been skewed by the most seemingly mundane of factors: what the animals are routinely fed?

The concern is that researchers have unwittingly administered hormones present in some rodent chow.

A small but growing number of scientists are warning that these hormones are a hidden element in millions of laboratory experiments – potentially affecting researchers' conclusions on countless aspects of disease.

"Many people don't give a second thought to it," said Leslie Leinwand, a molecular biologist at the University of Colorado in Boulder. "You just buy this stuff in big bags and feed it to mice and rats, and very few people are aware what is in there."

The most commonly used laboratory rodent chows contain soy as a key source of protein. The problem, research has shown, is that soy naturally contains chemicals known as phytoestrogens. These substances can wriggle their way into the lab animals' natural estrogen system, altering their physiology, whether they are male or female.

[theDentist]

Uncontrolled experiment bump.

[Rytwyng]

I see this type of thing happen all the time in pharmaceutical research. I always wondered why some PhDs don't fire on all cylinders. I think it's because in many universities our scientific educations are so specialized and spoon-fed, there's no time for independent thinking and growth.

Yep. I'm a chemist, and speaking from personal experience and observation: the PhD process seriously damages almost everyone who goes through it. Fortunately my self-taught outside interests (other fields of science, and nonscientific subjects) preserved my intellect from being totally destroyed by graduate school.

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"How much of science could we rewrite if we could go back and do experiments on a phytoestrogen-free diet," said Kenneth Setchell, a researcher at Children's Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati."

Now the sciento-tutes have more excuses to apply for yet more research funding from the public trough.

As one who worked for nearly 20 years as an NIH grants research program and review officer, I shudder and wince at the thought. I became increasingly aware that much of even the "best" government-funded scientific research was simply bu!!$#!t repackaged in new ways -- for the main purpose of providing career continuity and advancement to university-based scientists.

So I hung up my green visor and left to start my own business ventures in the real world, in an honest and ethical manner and on my own terms.

Since I left the Gummint I now can feel clean with only one shower a day. I do believe that nobody would notice, care, or be affected -- other than those sucking at the public teat or trough, as the case may be -- if 90% of government-funded biomedical research had never taken place.

"Free at last!! Free at last!!"

[tracer]

"Fortunately my self-taught outside interests (other fields of science, and nonscientific subjects) preserved my intellect from being totally destroyed by graduate school."

I hear you, bro. My biggest challenge during my Gummint career was to keep my brain from becoming deranged and atrophied by my work environment.

Happily, and unlike most of my fellow "civil servants," I am able to start and prosper in a number of business enterprises totally unrelated to "science."

My Ph.D. and other scientific training has served me well in my private sector biomedical career, my subsequent days in the Government's biomedical research morass, and in my new pursuits, which range from freelance writing to private investigative work, the latter of which I began during my years as a "civil servant'.....

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Another generally unaddressed confounder of research using living cells and organisms are chronobiological effetcs, i.e., those related to the time of day experimental procedures and results are performed and "harvested," respectively.....

[SunkenCiv]

A small but growing number of scientists are warning that these hormones are a hidden element in millions of laboratory experiments – potentially affecting researchers' conclusions on countless aspects of disease... The most commonly used laboratory rodent chows contain soy as a key source of protein. The problem, research has shown, is that soy naturally contains chemicals known as phytoestrogens. These substances can wriggle their way into the lab animals' natural estrogen system, altering their physiology, whether they are male or female.

self ping, topic from August.