Skip to main content

Use of C57BL/6N mice on the variety of immunological researches

Abstract

Inbred mice are an essential animal strain for research as they can improve the reproducibility and reliability of study results. The establishment of new inbred lines is continuing, and new inbred lines are being used in many research fields. C57BL/6 is a mouse laboratory animal that has been developed and used as an inbred strain since early stage of mouse strain development, and, in the 1950s, C57BL/6 was separated into substrains by the Jackson Laboratory (C57BL/6J) and the National Institutes of Health (C57BL/6N). C57BL/6 mice have been used in immunology and antitumor activity studies since the early strain development stage. After the mouse genome was fully described, C57BL/6 mice use in many areas of research has expanded. In particular, immunological characteristics such as those related to cellmediated immunity and NK cell activity are relatively higher in C57BL/6 mice than in other mice. The C57BL/6NKorl is a stock of C57BL/6N established as part of a localization of experimental animal strategy of the Korean Food and Drug Administration. Based on analysis of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), C57BL/6NKorl is considered a genetically distinct inbred stock from other C57BL/6N. Various research efforts have been made to describe the characteristics and increase knowledge of the characteristics of C57BL/6Nkorl. The results obtained through these efforts are expected to increase the utilization of C57BL/6Nkorl as a domestic laboratory animal resource and to enhance the reliability of mouse based studies.

References

  1. Festing MF. Properties of inbred strains and outbred stocks, with special reference to toxicity testing. J Toxicol Environ Health 1979; 5(1): 53–68.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. WRIGHT S. The genetics of vital characters of the guinea pig. J Cell Comp Physiol 1960; 56(Suppl 1): 123–151.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Wade CM, Daly MJ. Genetic variation in laboratory mice. Nat Genet 2005; 37(11): 1175–1180.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Barros SF, Friedlanskaia I, Petricevich VL, Kipnis TL. Local inflammation, lethality and cytokine release in mice injected with Bothrops atrox venom. Mediators Inflamm 1998; 7(5): 339–346.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Crawley JN, Belknap JK, Collins A, Crabbe JC, Frankel W, Henderson N, Hitzemann RJ, Maxson SC, Miner LL, Silva AJ, Wehner JM, Wynshaw-Boris A, Paylor R. Behavioral phenotypes of inbred mouse strains: implications and recommendations for molecular studies. Psychopharmacology (Berl) 1997; 132(2): 107–124.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Harris RB, Mitchell TD, Yan X, Simpson JS, Redmann SM Jr. Metabolic responses to leptin in obese db/db mice are strain dependent. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 2001; 281(1): R115–132.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Kile BT, Mason-Garrison CL, Justice MJ. Sex and strain-related differences in the peripheral blood cell values of inbred mouse strains. Mamm Genome 2003; 14(1): 81–85.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Madiehe AM, Hebert S, Mitchell TD, Harris RB. Strain-dependent stimulation of growth in leptin-treated obese db/db mice. Endocrinology 2002; 143(10): 3875–3883.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Nishina PM, Wang J, Toyofuku W, Kuypers FA, Ishida BY, Paigen B. Atherosclerosis and plasma and liver lipids in nine inbred strains of mice. Lipids 1993; 28(7): 599–605.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Opsahl ML, McClenaghan M, Springbett A, Reid S, Lathe R, Colman A, Whitelaw CB. Multiple effects of genetic background on variegated transgene expression in mice. Genetics 2002; 160(3): 1107–1112.

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  11. Rossmeisl M, Rim JS, Koza RA, Kozak LP. Variation in type 2 diabetes—related traits in mouse strains susceptible to diet-induced obesity. Diabetes 2003; 52(8): 1958–1966.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Sellers RS, Clifford CB, Treuting PM, Brayton C. Immunological variation between inbred laboratory mouse strains: points to consider in phenotyping genetically immunomodified mice. Vet Pathol 2012; 49(1): 32–43.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. van Bogaert MJ, Groenink L, Oosting RS, Westphal KG, van der Gugten J, Olivier B. Mouse strain differences in autonomic responses to stress. Genes Brain Behav 2006; 5(2): 139–149.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Woodworth CD, Michael E, Smith L, Vijayachandra K, Glick A, Hennings H, Yuspa SH. Strain-dependent differences in malignant conversion of mouse skin tumors is an inherent property of the epidermal keratinocyte. Carcinogenesis 2004; 25(9): 1771–1778.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Green MC, Grueneberg H, Hertwig P, Heston WE, Lyon MF, Medvedev NN, Snell GD, Staats J. A revision of the standardized genetic nomenclature for mice. J Hered 1963; 54: 159–162.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Silver LM. Mouse genetics: concepts and applications. New York: Oxford University Press; 1995; pp 3–31.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Dux A, Mhlbock O, Bailey DW. Genetic analyses of differences in incidence of mammary tumors and reticulum cell neoplasms with the use of recombinant inbred lines of mice. J Natl Cancer Inst 1978; 61(4): 1125–1129.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Eppig JT, Blake JA, Bult CJ, Kadin JA, Richardson JE; Mouse Genome Database Group. The mouse genome database (MGD): new features facilitating a model system. Nucleic Acids Res 2007; 35(Database issue): D630–637.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Mekada K, Abe K, Murakami A, Nakamura S, Nakata H, Moriwaki K, Obata Y, Yoshiki A. Genetic differences among C57BL/6 substrains. Exp Anim 2009; 58(2): 141–149.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Zurita E, Chagoyen M, Cantero M, Alonso R, Gonzlez-Neira A, Lpez-Jimnez A, Lpez-Moreno JA, Landel CP, Bentez J, Pazos F, Montoliu L. Genetic polymorphisms among C57BL/6 mouse inbred strains. Transgenic Res 2011; 20(3): 481–489.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Derhovanessian E, Solana R, Larbi A, Pawelec G. Immunity, ageing and cancer. Immun Ageing 2008; 5: 11.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  22. McVicar DW, Winkler-Pickett R, Taylor LS, Makrigiannis A, Bennett M, Anderson SK, Ortaldo JR. Aberrant DAP12 signaling in the 129 strain of mice: implications for the analysis of gene-targeted mice. J Immunol 2002; 169(4): 1721–1728.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Malhotra A, Shanker A. NK cells: immune cross-talk and therapeutic implications. Immunotherapy 2011; 3(10): 1143–1166.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  24. Mayer A, Lilly F, Duran-Reynals ML. Genetically dominant resistance in mice to 3-methylcholanthrene-induced lymphoma. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 1980; 77(5): 2960–2963.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  25. Waldhauer I, Steinle A. NK cells and cancer immunosurveillance. Oncogene 2008; 27(45): 5932–5943.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Talmadge JE, Meyers KM, Prieur DJ, Starkey JR. Role of natural killer cells in tumor growth and metastasis: C57BL/6 normal and beige mice. J Natl Cancer Inst 1980; 65(5): 929–935.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Corbett AJ, Coudert JD, Forbes CA, Scalzo AA. Functional consequences of natural sequence variation of murine cytomegalovirus m157 for Ly49 receptor specificity and NK cell activation. J Immunol 2011; 186(3): 1713–1722.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Dokun AO, Kim S, Smith HR, Kang HS, Chu DT, Yokoyama WM. Specific and nonspecific NK cell activation during virus infection. Nat Immunol 2001; 2(10): 951–956.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Boehm T. Design principles of adaptive immune systems. Nat Rev Immunol 2011; 11(5): 307–317.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Chen J, Flurkey K, Harrison DE. A reduced peripheral blood CD4(+) lymphocyte proportion is a consistent ageing phenotype. Mech Ageing Dev 2002; 123(2–3): 145–153.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Chen J, Harrison DE. Quantitative trait loci regulating relative lymphocyte proportions in mouse peripheral blood. Blood 2002; 99(2): 561–566.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Glineur S, Antoine-Moussiaux N, Michaux C, Desmecht D. Immune depression of the SJL/J mouse, a radioresistant and immunologically atypical inbred strain. Immunobiology 2011; 216(1–2): 213–217.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Karamitros D, Kotantaki P, Lygerou Z, Kioussis D, Taraviras S. T cell proliferation and homeostasis: an emerging role for the cell cycle inhibitor geminin. Crit Rev Immunol 2011; 31(3): 209–231.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Pepper M, Jenkins MK. Origins of CD4(+) effector and central memory T cells. Nat Immunol 2011; 12(6): 467–471.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  35. Mills CD, Kincaid K, Alt JM, Heilman MJ, Hill AM. M-1/M-2 macrophages and the Th1/Th2 paradigm. J Immunol 2000; 164(12): 6166–6173.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  36. Ministry of Food and Drug Safety Establishement for the stock of the domestic laboratory animals. Annu Rep 2015.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This project was supported by a grant of BIOREIN (Laboratory Animal Bio Resources Initiative) from Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in 2016.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Hyun Keun Song or Dae Youn Hwang.

Rights and permissions

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Song, H.K., Hwang, D.Y. Use of C57BL/6N mice on the variety of immunological researches. Lab Anim Res 33, 119–123 (2017). https://doi.org/10.5625/lar.2017.33.2.119

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.5625/lar.2017.33.2.119

Keywords