Scinet’s patented DNA microarray technology is comprised of both EstrArray (cDNA type) and an oligonucleotide microarray, Scinet’s latest DNA chip, developed in conjunction AIST (the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology). The customized DNA microarray that we have developed, EstrArray, contains a patented group of about 200 genes on a 3D-Array® DNA chip (manufactured by Toray Industries) featuring a concavo-convex surface on the detection side of a black resin substrate, processing a columnar structure at the nano level, and forced bead stirring. EstrArray is ISO standard compliant (BS ISO 16578: 2013).
Scinet’s DNA chip, with its patented group of about 200 estrogen responsive genes and control/corrected genes, allows for comprehensive (almost all genes related to the estrogen signaling pathway) and precise estrogen signal detection using extremely small amounts of target DNA (~ 0.1 μg ), which is about 100 times more sensitive than the amount of DNA required with conventional glass plate substrate DNA microarray methods.
Which makes it possible to investigate estrogenic activity with a sensitivity of 1000 times or more as compared with the evaluation method which had been dependent on research animals for research in the past.
Scinet’s in vitro technique as an Alternative to Animal Testing:
To date, the activity of estrogenic substances has been investigated using Daphnia (water fleas), Medaka (Japanese rice fish), and small laboratory mammals. The main objective of in vivo animal testing has been to evaluate the effect of the target substance on the tissues and organs, especially hypertrophy of the uterus, and measuring the rate of cell proliferation in 3 generations of an animal fed with the substance being evaluated.
Technical and ethical problems associated with conventional in vivo Animal Experimentation include:
- High cost
- Cumbersome operation
- Requires much time
- Many lab animals are required
However, Scinet’s technology now makes it possible to precisely investigate and confirm indicators of estrogenic activity, unable to be confirmed using conventional in vivo animal experimentation, in a manner that is cost effective, efficient, timely, and reduces the need for animal testing.
Tens of millions of laboratory animals are used every year, and animal rights and animal welfare groups are working to ban animal experimentation. Although progress has been slow, committees in N. America, Europe, and Asia are committed to coordinating the validation of alternative methods of testing and have been inviting the submission of alternative technology proposals. We hope that Scinet’s technology someday will be considered as a standardized international test methods, so we are continually conducting various surveys, in cooperation with the JaCVAM (Japanese Center for the Validation of Alternative Methods) group of the National Pharmaceutical Food Hygiene Research Institute in Japan. Already, animal experimentation has been banned in the cosmetics industry.
We at Scinet are hopeful that in the near future our technology may be recognized as a key alternative test method that will replace, reduce, or refine (3Rs) animal use in testing.