The Characteristics of NU/J Mice - Maze Engineers - Conduct ...

NU/J, also known as nu/nu or athymic nude, is an inbred strain of nude mouse. It lacks a thymus and so has a severely compromised immune system, ... Skiptomaincontent CloseSearch MouseStrains NU/JMouseStrain ByMazeEngineersDecember11,2018October14th,2019NoComments Overview NU/J,alsoknownasnu/nuorathymicnude,isaninbredstrainofnudemouse.Itlacksathymusandsohasaseverelycompromisedimmunesystem,makingitusefulforimmunologicalresearch.[1] History Theearliestnudemice,fromwhichNU/Jisdescended,aroseintheearly1960satRuchillHospitalinGlasgow.Dr.NormanGristnoticedthestrikingphenotypeofthesemice,whohadspontaneouslyacquiredamutationforhairlossandathymism. AstockofthesemicewasacquiredbytheJacksonLaboratoryfromtheNIHin1975.TheseoutbredmiceweretheninbredattheJacksonLaboratoryfor100generationstoproducethecurrentNU/Jstrain.[1] PhysicalCharacteristics NU/Jmiceareclassifiedas“nude”micesincetheyhavenofur,andsoappeardarkpink/greyandwrinkled.Theyhavealowerbodyweightthannon-nudemice.[1][2] Theydonothaveathymus,asaconsequenceofpossessingtheFoxn1nuallele,whichdisruptsthedevelopmentofthethymicanlageandepithelium.Thissamealleleisalsoresponsiblefortheirfailuretogrowfur.Italsoallowsthemtobeidentifiedfromanearlyagebytheirdistinctive“crinkled”whiskers.[1] BehavioralCharacteristics&Handling Sincenudemicearehighlyimmunedeficient,itisimperativetohandlethemundersterileconditions.Handlingshouldbeminimized,andwhennecessaryshouldalwaysbeperformedwithglovesandafacemasktoavoidinfectingthemice. Thesemice(whicharehomozygousforthepathologicalnuallele)showsignificantlylowerlocomotoractivityandsociabilityintheopenfieldtestthaneuthymicmiceheterozygousforthemutantallele.Theyalsoappeartoexhibitslightlylessanxietyinthelight-darkboxtest.[3] HealthCharacteristics TheabsenceofathymusinNU/Jmiceseverelyaffectsthedevelopmentoftheirimmunesystem.Tlymphocytesarealmostcompletelyabsentfromtheirbloodstream,reducingtheirabilitytoidentifyandfightinfectiouspathogens.Occasionally,alimitedquantityofTcellscanbedetected,sincetheFoxn1numutationdoesnotaffectTcellprecursors.[1][4] Blymphocytesarepresentinthesemice,buttheirdevelopmentispartiallydefective,mostlikelyasaresultoftheabsenceofTcells.MostcommonformsofantibodiesarenotpresentinNU/J,withonlyIgMbeingdeployed.[1][4] Macrophages,naturalkillercells,APCsandthecomplementsystemarenormalinNU/Jmice.Overall,theirnon-adaptiveimmunesystemisnotaffectedbytheirmutantgenes.[4] FemaleNU/Jmicedonotbreedverywell:theybegintoovulateataroundtwoandhalfmonthsofageandthenceaseovulatingwhentheyreachfourmonths.[1] MajorExperimentalUses MiceoftheNU/Jstrainofferabroadrangeofusefulapplications.Mostprominently,theyareappliedtoimmunologicalresearch,especiallyresearchintoimmunedeficiencydisorders,autoimmunityandthymusdefects.However,theirimmunedeficiencyisnotsevereenoughtomakethemagoodmodelforSCID.[1][3] Sometimesresearchersneedtoremovethethymusfrommousemodelsforthepurposesofexperimentation.Theabsenceofthethymusinthisstrainmakessuchproceduresunnecessaryandthuscanprovehighlyconvenient.[1] Theirhighlymutedimmuneresponsetoalientissuealsomakesthemgoodsubjectsforxenograftingexperiments,suchastumorgraftingexperimentsusedincancerresearch.Theirissueswithhairgrowthfailurealsomeantheyfindakeyplaceindermatologicalresearchonskinandhairtextureabnormalities.[1] References 002019–NU/J.2018.002019–NU/J.[ONLINE]Availableat:https://www.jax.org/strain/002019.[Accessed24September2018]. TheJacksonLaboratory.2018.Inbred&OutbredNudeMice.[ONLINE]Availableat:https://www.jax.org/jax-mice-and-services/find-and-order-jax-mice/most-popular-jax-mice-strains/nude-mice.[Accessed24September2018]. JoseVidal.Differencesofnu/+andnu/nuMiceinSomeBehaviorsReflectingTemperamentTraits.1996.Physiology&Behavior.Vol.59.No.2,pp.341-348 TheJacksonLaboratory.2018.Choosinganimmunodeficientmousemodel.[ONLINE]Availableat:https://www.jax.org/news-and-insights/2006/march/choosing-an-immunodeficient-mouse-model.[Accessed24September2018]. 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