Our implants have been developed by a team of researchers from Liège University, Belgium, with a total of several dozen years of experience in endocrinology, reproductive biology, and hormone-dependent cancers. These researchers founded our company, Belma Technologies, to produce and distribute these devices.
The advanced technology used in Belma implants ensures levels of performance well beyond those of the matrix pellets that have been on the market for decades: constancy of the daily doses released throughout the treatment period and very small inter-implant variations in the doses released.
The small inter-individual variations of the Belma implants, which are shown clearly in the opposite graph, ensure more homogeneous experimental results (see graph below) and thus have a decisive potential advantage for the experimenter, namely, the possibility of using a smaller number of animals per protocol for a level of statistical significance identical to that achieved with animals treated with matrix pellets.
Fig 1: The plots correspond to the means ± SD.
Fig 2: Melanoma B16K1 tumor weight at sacrifice. Ovariectomized mice (OVX) were treated with Matrix pellets (0.01mg/60 days) or with Belma implants (ME2/60 days).(1) (2)
Fig 3: Cross-section of a placebo implant (coloured membrane).
Table 1 :
Plasma concentrations, normal values
| Rat | Mouse | |
| E2 (pg/ml) | 2,4 – 145,4 | 2,4 – 145,4 |
| P4 (ng/ml) | 1,2 – 18,4 | 1,2 – 18,4 |
| T (ng/ml) | 0,66 – 5,4 | 1,7 – 14,4 |
Table 2 :
Plasma concentrations, values with Belma implants
| Rat | Mouse | |
| Belma E2 (pg/ml) | 52 - 108 | 41,2 - 105,6 |
| Belma E2L (pg/ml) | 35,2 - 72,0 | |
| Belma P4 (ng/ml) | 5,3 – 11,2 | 3,0 - 5,9 |
| Belma T (ng/ml) | 0,9 - 3,7 | 2,9 - 7,5 |
Our experienced team is at your disposal to answer your questions and queries regarding the use of our implants and the long-term hormone treatment of laboratory animals.
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