Patent ID: 6610503
Filing Date: 2003-08-26
Classification: A61K,C12Q

Abstract:
A method of predicting an expected time of death of an experimental animal in a model system of sepsis, comprising:selecting a model system of sepsis, said model system comprising an experimental animal species and a sepsis causing pathogen species; constructing a death expectation curve by a method comprising initializing infection in a group of experimental animals by administering a reporter-labeled pathogen of said pathogen species to each experimental animal, wherein said reporter is a light-emitting reporter, and said pathogen is administered at more than one dosage, measuring the level of said light-emitting reporter in each experimental animal at selected times using a photon detection device, continuing said measuring until all of the experimental animals of the group have either died or cleared the infection, determining a breakpoint for the onset of terminal sepsis, wherein said breakpoint is defined as the onset of terminal sepsis for an experimental animal in the group that received the lowest dose of pathogen and died of the resulting infection, selecting a time-point after said breakpoint and obtaining the measured level of light-emitting reporter at that time-point, and plotting a measure of the increase of the level of light-emitting reporter at said time-point against the time of death for each animal that died to construct the death expectation curve; infecting an experimental animal of said experimental animal species with said light-emitting reporter-labeled pathogen of said pathogen species; measuring the level of said light-emitting reporter in said experimental animal at said selected time-point using a photon detection device; and predicting said expected time of death from the level of said light-emitting reporter and said death expectation curve.