• Interdisciplinary Bio Central
• /
• v.2 no.4
• /
• pp.15.1-15.5
• /
• 2010

RIKEN BioResource Center (BRC) has collected, preserved, conducted quality control of, and distributed mouse resources since 2002 as the core facility of the National BioResource Project by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan. Our mouse resources include over 5,000 strains such as humanized disease models, fluorescent reporters, and knockout mice. We have developed novel mouse strains such as tissue-specific Cre-drivers and optogenetic strains that are in high demand by the research community. We have removed all our specified pathogens from the deposited mice and used our quality control tests to examine their genetic modifications and backgrounds. RIKEN BRC is a founding member of the Federation of International Mouse Resources and the Asian Mouse Mutagenesis and Resource Association, and provides mouse resources to the one-stop International Mouse Strain Resource database. RIKEN BRC also participates in the International Gene Trap Consortium, having registered 713 gene-trap clones and their sequences in a public library, and is an advisory member of the CREATE (Coordination of resources for conditional expression of mutated mouse alleles) consortium which represents major European and international mouse database holders for the integration and dissemination of Cre-driver strains. RIKEN BRC provides training courses in the use of advanced technologies for the quality control and cryopreservation of mouse strains to promote the effective use of mouse resources worldwide.

• Interdisciplinary Bio Central
• /
• v.2 no.4
• /
• pp.16.1-16.4
• /
• 2010

Cryopreservation of mouse embryos and spermatozoa has become the foremost technique for preserving large numbers of different strains of mice with induced mutations. In 1998, our mouse bank was established in the Center for Animal Resources and Development (CARD), Institute of Resource Development and Analysis, Kumamoto University, Japan, based on the Preservation, supply and development of genetically engineered animals report published by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. We cryopreserve mouse embryos and sperm, supply these resources, organize training courses to educate people and form part of a domestic and international network of both mutagenesis and resource centers. We currently have over 1,500 mouse strains, 842,000 frozen embryos and 26,000 straws containing frozen sperm. Moreover, we disclose information about 1,300 deposited strains. Furthermore, over 400 strains of frozen embryos or mice produced from frozen embryos and sperm are being supplied to the requesters both domestically and internationally. Additionally we hold training courses on the cryopreservation of mouse germplasm 2~3 times a year, both domestically and internationally. In the course, we teach basic reproductive engineering techniques to trainees on a man-to-man basis. We have already held 28 training courses on the cryopreservation of mouse germplasm at our center and at other institutes.

• Journal of Microbiology
• /
• v.45 no.6
• /
• pp.566-571
• /
• 2007

Bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is a potent stimulator of bone resorption in periodontitis. Co-culture systems of mouse calvaria-derived osteoblasts and bone marrow-derived preosteoclasts were used as an in vitro osteoclast differentiation. This study revealed that co-cultures using ddY or ICR mouse strain responded differently to LPS while responded equally to $1{\alpha},25(OH)_2D_3$. Thus, the different response to LPS indicates dissimilarity of two mouse stains in their capacity for generating osteoclasts while the two mouse strains share the similarity in response to $1{\alpha},25(OH)_2D_3$. To identify which cells between osteoblasts and preosteoclasts in the co-culture are responsible for the dissimilarity, the reciprocal co-cultures were performed between ddY and ICR mouse strains. The treatment of $1,25(OH)_2D_3$ to ddY/ICR (osteoblasts from ddY/preosteoclasts from ICR) and ICR/ddY reciprocal co-cultures also showed the similarity. In case of LPS treatment, the results of ddY/ICR were similar to ddY/ddY and the results of the other reciprocal co-culture, ICR/ddY combination, were consistent with those of ICR/ICR. It suggests that the dissimilarity between the two mouse strains may resident in osteoblasts but not in preosteoclasts. Therefore, the osteoblast is responsible for mouse strain-dependent osteoclastogenesis in response to LPS. Although mouse models will continue to provide insights into molecular mechanisms of osteoclastogenesis, caution should be exercised when using different mouse strains, especially ddY and ICR strains as models for osteoclast differentiation.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
• /
• v.38 no.2
• /
• pp.65-74
• /
• 2000

Toxoplasma-killing activities of mouse peritoneal macrophages activated by the extracts of Tetrahymena pyriformis (Korean and Chinese strains) were evaluated, and the active protein fractions from both strains were partially characterized by a method including chromatographies and SDS-PAGE. The first peak in Korean strain and the second peak in Chinese strain of T. pyriformis obtained by DEAE-Sephadex A-50 chromatography were most effective in the activation of macrophages to kill Toxoplasma gondii tachyzoites in vitro. Subsequent fractionations of obtained peak fractions were performed on a Sephadex G-200 gel. The first peaks fractionated from both strains of T. pyrtyomis had the highest toxoplasmacidal activities, and when subjected to the SDS-PAGE, one prominent band was visualized for each of the strains showing the same molecular weight of ca. 52.6 kDa. This active protein is suggested to be related to non-specific activation of mouse peritoneal macrophages.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
• /
• v.17 no.1
• /
• pp.89-97
• /
• 2013

Developing an animal model for a specific disease is very important in the understanding of the underlying mechanism of the disease and allows testing of newly developed new drugs before human application. However, which of the plethora of experimental animal species to use in model development can be perplexing. Administration of 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) is a very well known method to induce the symptoms of Parkinson's disease in mice. But, there is very limited information about the different sensitivities to MPTP among mouse strains. Here, we tested three different mouse strains (C57BL/6, Balb-C, and ICR) as a Parkinsonian model by repeated MPTP injections. In addition to behavioral analysis, endogenous levels of dopamine and tetrahydrobiopterin in mice brain regions, such as striatum, substantia nigra, and hippocampus were directly quantified by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Repeated administrations of MPTP significantly affected the moving distances and rearing frequencies in all three mouse strains. The endogenous dopamine concentrations and expression levels of tyrosine hydroxylase were significantly decreased after the repeated injections, but tetrahydrobiopterin did not change in analyzed brain regions. However, susceptibilities of the mice to MPTP were differed based on the degree of behavioral change, dopamine concentration in brain regions, and expression levels of tyrosine hydroxylase, with C57BL/6 and Balb-C mice being more sensitive to the dopaminergic neuronal toxicity of MPTP than ICR mice.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
• /
• v.29 no.6
• /
• pp.464-469
• /
• 2012

This experiment was applied to examine the effects of ${\beta}$-glucan originated from Aureobasidium on wound healing infected by 3 strains of bacteria in the normal nude mouse. From the results it was suggested that ${\beta}$-glucan has properties, which may be beneficial in the treatment of wound healing though it does not showed any antibacterial activities against wound infections by three strains such as S. aureus, S. pyogenes and P. aeruginosa. Therefore, it is considered that ${\beta}$-glucan will be promised as a new wound management.

• Nutritional Sciences
• /
• v.9 no.3
• /
• pp.212-226
• /
• 2006

The involvement of arachidonic acid (AA) metabolizing enzyme, lipoxygenase (LOX), in the development of particular tumors in humans has gradually been acknowledged and LOX has emerged as a novel target to prevent or treat human cancers. In the mouse skin carcinogenesis model, which provides an excellent model to study multistage nature of human cancer development, many studies have shown that some of the LOXs are constitutively upregulated in their expression. Moreover, application of LOX inhibitors effectively reduced tumor burdens, which implicates the involvement of LOX in mouse skin tumor development as well. 8S-LOX is a recently cloned LOX, which is specifically expressed in mouse skin after 12-O-tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate (TPA) treatment but not in normal skin. Unlike other members of the LOX 'family' expressed in mouse skin, this TPA-induced expression of 8S-LOX is prominent only in the skin of the TPA tumor promotion-sensitive strains of mice (SENCAR, CD-1, and NMRI) but not in the promotion-resistant C57BL/6J mice. This is a very unique phenomenon among strains of mice. Constitutive upregulation of 8S-LOX was also found in early stage papillomas and the expression was gradually reduced as the tumors became malignant. Based on these observations, it has been thought that 8S-LOX is involved in TPA-induced tumor promotion as well as in tumor conversion from papillomas to carcinomas. In accordance with this hypothesis, several studies have suggested possible roles of 8S-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (HETE), an AA metabolite of 8S-LOX, in mouse skin tumor development. A clastogenic activity of 8S-HETE was demonstrated in primary keratinocytes and a close correlation between the levels of etheno-DNA adducts and 8S-HETE during skin carcinogenesis was also reported. On the other hand, it has been reported that 8S-LOX protein expression is restricted to a differentiated keratinocyte compartment Moreover, reported findings on the ability of 8S-HETE to cause keratinocyte differentiation appear to be contrary to the procarcinogenic features of the 8S-LOX expression, presenting a question as to the role of 8S-LOX during mouse skin carcinogenesis. In this review, molecular and biological features of 8S-LOX as well as current views on the functional role of 8S-LOX/8S-HETE during mouse skin carcinogenesis are presented.

• The Korea Genome Conference
• /
• 2002.08a
• /
• pp.40.1-40.1
• /
• 2002

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
• /
• v.30 no.3
• /
• pp.169-176
• /
• 1992

In order to compare the intraspecific variation in host-parasite relationship of Clonorchis sinensis, six strains of inbred mice, ICR, DDY, GPC, BALB/c, nude and DS, were infected orally with 20 metacercariae of C. sinensis. The biologic incubation period of C. sinensis was the shortest in DDY mice, 21.2 days in average, followed by GPC 21.4, BALB/c and DS 23.2, ICR and nude 23.4 days, respectively. The fertile period of the cuke was also the longest in the DDY strain, 164 days on average, followed by GPC 132, BALB/c 97, nude 37, DS 32 and ICR 28 days. The egg-laying capacity of the cuke in DDY and GPC was relatively high and stable compared with the other four strains of mice. It was found that there are intraspecific variations in biologic incubation period, fertile period, and fecundity of C. sinensis. The DDY mouse is likely to be the most suitable experimental animal among the six strains of the mice tested. Key words: Mouse strain, Clonorchis sinensis, egg-laying capacity.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.67-86
• /
• 2014

Gastric cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world. Animal models have been used to elucidate the details of the molecular mechanisms of various cancers. However, most inbred strains of mice have resistance to gastric carcinogenesis. Helicobacter infection and carcinogen treatment have been used to establish mouse models that exhibit phenotypes similar to those of human gastric cancer. A large number of transgenic and knockout mouse models of gastric cancer have been developed using genetic engineering. A combination of carcinogens and gene manipulation has been applied to facilitate development of advanced gastric cancer; however, it is rare for mouse models of gastric cancer to show aggressive, metastatic phenotypes required for preclinical studies. Here, we review current mouse models of gastric carcinogenesis and provide our perspectives on future developments in this field.