All posts by : Karin Janz

Arterial blood pressure is one of the most important variables monitored during general anaesthesia, since both hypotension and hypertension can compromise the perfusion of vital organs. The reference method, direct (invasive) measurement through an arterial catheter, is not always feasible in clinical patients, so anaesthetists rely on non-invasive oscillometric devices. The reliability of these measurements depends strongly on the cuff site, and any new site must be validated against the invasive reference before it can be recommended for clinical use.

With the financial support of the UniBern Forschungsstiftung, we were able to acquire a SunTech Vet25e veterinary monitor (Fig. 1), which measures non-invasive blood pressure (NIBP) using oscillometric technology. An appropriately sized cuff (manchette) can be positioned at several body sites; in this project we evaluated the tongue (Fig. 2), a site that is easily accessible in the intubated, anaesthetised horses.

The aim of the study is to validate NIBP measured at the tongue against simultaneously recorded invasive arterial blood pressure, following the recommendations of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) for the validation of indirect blood-pressure devices. In horses under general anaesthesia in which an arterial catheter was placed for clinical reasons, paired tongue-NIBP and invasive readings were recorded at the same moment (Fig. 3) across a wide range of pressures. Systolic, mean and diastolic values were compared using Bland–Altman analysis (bias and limits of agreement), and the agreement was assessed against the ACVIM targets.

A preliminary analysis of 78 paired measurements from 14 horses — spanning invasive systolic pressures of 78–156 mmHg, from hypotension to hypertension — has been performed. Relative to the invasive reference, tongue-NIBP showed a mean bias (± SD) of −6.4 ± 16.4 mmHg for systolic, −2.9 ± 12.7 mmHg for mean and +3.1 ± 11.3 mmHg for diastolic arterial pressure, with 95% limits of agreement of −38.5 to +25.8, −27.8 to +22.0 and −18.9 to +25.2 mmHg, respectively. These early results suggest that the tongue is a feasible non-invasive measurement site — most reliable for mean and diastolic pressure — when conventional cuff positions are not accessible.

Med. vet. Andrei Berbecaru, DVM, MSc
Anaesthesiology and Pain Therapy Section

Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern

To provide the scientific community with the most clinically relevant study tool and to better understand lip epithelial biology, we aim to establish 3D human lip models using primary keratinocytes. So far, such a system is not available which is due to the lack of human lip tissue and the complex anatomical structure of lip tissue.

We isolate primary lip keratinocytes from surplus lip tissue that has to be excised during routine surgical cleft lip repair. This tissue is otherwise discarded but provides us with the ideal source for lip keratinocyte extractions. The human lip is a complex anatomical structure and represents a mucocutaneous junction where labial skin transitions into the oral mucosa (Figure 1). Consequently, an optimal lip model should be compromised of labial skin and oral mucosal keratinocytes that meet in a transition zone. For this purpose, immunohistochemical analyses are of utmost importance as they allow the distinction of keratinizing skin lip keratinocytes from non-keratinizing mucosal keratinocytes.

From grasping your cup of coffee to cycling through busy traffic, everyday actions require precise and well-coordinated movements. Yet human movement is inherently variable. Because of neuromotor noise, we can never reproduce a movement exactly the same way twice (Faisal et al., 2008). Under certain conditions — such as fatigue or motor disorders — this movement variance increases substantially.

In our research, we investigate the functional mechanisms and strategies that allow humans to handle movement variance. To experimentally test these mechanisms, we developed a virtual reality (VR) throwing task. This experimental setup enables us to assess participants’ strategies while systematically manipulating movement variance. In practical terms, we can simulate conditions of increased motor variance (i.e., making participants‘ throws less precise) and systematically observe how they adapt their movement strategies.

Funding from the Berne University Research Foundation enabled us to purchase a new head-mounted display, controllers, and base stations for motion tracking, which are in use for our current series of VR experiments (see pictures).

Dr. Stephan Zahno

Institute of Sport Science
Movement Science Department

http://www.ispw.unibe.ch

Research on nutrient absorption, intestinal development, and immune function often depends on animal experimentation, making the ethical implications of animal sacrifice a significant concern, especially in those scenarios where induced animal suffering is required to mimic a specific pathological or inflammatory status. The development of cell culture models like organoids grown from stem cells in vitro offers an alternative platform for studying the (patho)-physiology of given diseases.

To ensure precision, reproducibility, and data integrity, it is essential to accurately quantify the number of cultivated cells (intestinal epithelial cells and immune cells). Up to now, we have relied on manual cell counting, a time-consuming and error-prone method that lacks digital traceability. This not only impacts efficiency but also introduces variability in results. With the financial support kindly provided by the UniBern Forschungsstiftung we could acquire an automated cell counting system. This instrument significantly streamlines workflows, reduces human error, and ensures consistent, high-quality data. Moreover, by minimizing handling time, the automatic cell counter improves cell viability, which is critical for downstream analyses.

Intestinal tissues from different species (e.g., swine, rabbit, horse) were successfully cultured and challenged with different inflammatory agents at concomitantly different substrate availability. Our research group aims at establishing a multi-species organoid repository, including healthy and diseased/inflamed tissues, particularly derived from different sections of the intestinal tract. Thus, we can study the persistence of inflammatory phenotypes, and the regulatory pathways involved in maintaining homeostasis and in shaping the mucosal immune response to compounds that may (or may not) promote tissue regeneration and health at a single-organoid level. We evaluate how nutrients, bioactive compounds and environmental pollutants are absorbed, metabolized, and transported within tissues. In the long-term, this platform has the potential to advance the development of more precise, species-specific therapies and nutritional interventions.

Dr. Dora Bordoni
Prof. Dr. Josef Gross

Veterinary Physiology, Vetsuisse Faculty

With support from the UniBern Forschungsstiftung, we acquired a luminescence plate reader, enabling the systematic optimisation and application of our human cell-free translation platform. This platform allows rapid, quantitative measurements of translation and has become a core technology in our laboratory.

Using this system, we performed a small-molecule screening that led to the identification of NT-2, a previously uncharacterised Fusarium-derived mycotoxin, as a potent and highly specific inhibitor of human ribosomes. Our study revealed an acute translation inhibition with a ribosome-preservation pathway not previously described for eukaryotic systems¹.