Contents Introduction The nude mouse is a model organism first bred and discovered by S.P Flanagan. This mouse is a mu...
Introduction
The nude
mouse is a model organism first bred and discovered by S.P Flanagan. This mouse
is a mutant form which is hairless and usually have vestigial thymus that lacks
to function properly or eventually lacks full thymus and thus are either unable
of producing mature T cells or completely lacks the T cell Production. This
feature of nude mice makes them unable to reject tumors and other transplants
that are necessary to test in labs. Thus they are efficiently used in tumors,
cancers, therapeutics, immunological and AIDS research in laboratory.
Genetic Origin of Nude Mice
The nude mouse
is a mutant which has encountered mutation in a gene called Foxn1 gene. The
normal (wild) form of this gene codes for a transcriptional factor celled
foxn1, which in turn functions for thymus production and regulatory expression
of hair keratin genes.
The gene is
on chromosome 11 of mouse and consists of 9 exons. About 6 allelic mutations
have been noticed in nude mouse and these mutations resulted in hair-loss and
thymus disruption. The mutation is thought to occur in exon 3 by deletion of
base pair resulting in production of a protein that cause mutation in Foxn1
gene.
How are they are bred?
The nude
mice are reproduced and bred by crossing homozygous nude males and heterozygous
females. In laboratory the nude mice are bred with NIH stocks obtained from University
of Missouri. The NIH stocks are pure breeds of nude mice that further inherit
the mutation and thus their production is increased.
Uses of Nude Mouse in research
The nude
mice are efficiently used in many research processes and experiments like
transplantation, therapeutics, tumor research, and aids.
Below are some recent applications of
nude mice in research:
1.
Cancer Research
The nude
mice are used in cancer research because they are unable to reject human tumor
transplant. The translation of tumors into nude mice make it possible to study
the tumors and effect of drugs on it and also deeply study it chemical and
genetic basis so that it can be eradicated from human population.
2.
Drug Studies
The use of
nude mice in tumor research and transplantation of human tumors in them made it
possible to study different drugs efficiently and also find the abnormalities
that can occur as result of use of each drug. Different drugs are implied in
combination to check the drug efficacy for each type of tumor.
3.
Use of xenografted Nude
mice in Prostate cancer
Xenograft
models are useful for clarifying regulatory growth pathways of tumors and thus
they are used in research study of Prostate cancer.
4.
Use in
study of infectious diseases and Immunology
The nude mice
are used in study of different immune-deficiencies and its recovery by use of
different mechanisms implied upon nude mice such as transplantation and
different tissue therapies. The absence of functioning T cells also make it
possible to thoroughly study the immune features that are only specialized to B
cells and are only expressed when T cells are not used or either absent. Certain
autoimmune diseases are also studied using nude mice.
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