Body Weight Monitoring
Objective: To assess the systemic effects of GVHD and anti-TNF treatment by measuring body weight changes in lethally irradiated mice on day 18 post-transplantation
This is a Body Weight Monitoring protocol using mouse as the model organism. The procedure involves 5 procedural steps, 3 equipment items, 6 materials. Extracted from a 1987 paper published in The Journal of Experimental Medicine.
Model and subjects
mouse • C57BL/10 (B10), CBA/ca, C57BL/6 (B6) H-2k, and (B10 X CBA)F1 • unknown • greater than 3 months old • not specified at baseline
Study window
~3 minutes hands-on
Core workflow
Lethal irradiation of recipient mice • Intravenous injection of bone marrow cells and T lymphocytes • Begin anti-TNF or control IgG treatment
Primary readouts
- Body weight change (percentage weight loss) on day 18
- Mortality rate at days 40 and 80
- Presence and severity of skin lesions (epidermal cell necrosis, lichenoid hyperplastic reactions, loss of hypodermic fat)
- Presence and severity of intestinal lesions (dilatation, villus flattening, crypt elevation, mitoses, crypt cell necrosis)
Key equipment and reagents
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Protocol Steps
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Lethal irradiation of recipient mice
Recipient mice greater than 3 months old were irradiated using a Cesium source
Note: Dose: 800 rad
View evidence from paper
“Recipient mice >3 mo old, were irradiated by a Cesium source (800 rad, delivered during 2-3 min)”
Intravenous injection of bone marrow cells and T lymphocytes
Lethally irradiated mice were injected intravenously with T-depleted bone marrow cells, either supplemented with T lymphocytes from lymph nodes or alone as control
Note: T lymphocytes: 2 X 10^6 B10 LN cells; Controls received BMC alone
View evidence from paper
“Recipient mice >3 mo old, were irradiated by a Cesium source (800 rad, delivered during 2-3 min) and injected intravenously with T depleted bone marrow cells (BMC), either supplemented with T lymphocytes prepared from lymph nodes (LN), or alone, as a control”
Begin anti-TNF or control IgG treatment
Starting on day 8 post-transplantation, mice with GVHD were injected with either rabbit anti-TNF IgG or normal rabbit IgG as control
Note: Dose: 2 mg per injection; Treatment began before clinical symptoms appeared
View evidence from paper
“Beginning on day 8, mice with GVHD were injected weekly with 2 mg of either rabbit anti-mouse recombinant tumor necrosis factor/cachectin (TNF-alpha) IgG, or normal rabbit IgG”
Body weight measurement on day 18
Body weight was measured on day 18 post-transplantation to assess systemic effects of GVHD and anti-TNF treatment
Note: Weight loss was compared between GVHD mice treated with normal IgG, GVHD mice treated with anti-TNF, and control mice without GVHD
View evidence from paper
“On day 18, normal rabbit IgG-injected GVHD mice showed a weight loss of 11% (4%, mean SD) compared with control mice without GVHD (i.e., not injected with parental T cells), while there was no significant difference in weight between anti-TNF-injected GVHD mice and control mice”
Tissue collection and histological examination
On days 16-18, mice were killed to examine skin and intestinal lesions of acute phase GVHD
Note: Specimens were fixed in 2% formaldehyde/80% ethanol, embedded in paraffin or methyl methacrylate, and sectioned for staining
View evidence from paper
“On the 16-18th d, mice were killed to examine the skin and intestinal lesions of the acute phase of GVHD”