Age-Related Reference Intervals of the Main Biochemical and Hematological Parameters in C57BL/6J, 129SV/EV and C3H/HeJ Mouse Strains.
BACKGROUND
Although the mouse is the animal model most widely used to study the pathogenesis and treatment of human diseases, reference values for biochemical parameters are scanty or lacking for the most frequently used strains. We therefore evaluated these parameters in the C57BL/6J, 129SV/EV and C3H/HeJ mice.


RESULTS
We measured by dry chemistry 26 analytes relative to electrolyte balance, lipoprotein metabolism, and muscle/heart, liver, kidney and pancreas functions, and by automated blood counter 5 hematological parameters in 30 animals (15 male and 15 female) of each mouse strain at three age ranges: 1-2 months, 3-8 months and 9-12 months. Whole blood was collected from the retro-orbital sinus. We used quality control procedures to investigate analytical imprecision and inaccuracy. Reference values were calculated by non parametric methods (median and 2.5(th) and 97.5(th) percentiles). The Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used for between-group comparisons. Median levels of GLU, LDH, Chol and BUN were higher, and LPS, AST, ALP and CHE were lower in males than in females (p range: 0.05-0.001). Inter-strain differences were observed for: (1) GLU, t-Bil, K+, Ca++, PO(4)- (p<0.05) and for TAG, Chol, AST, Fe++ (p<0.001) in 4-8 month-old animals; (2) for CK, Crea, Mg++, Na++, K+, Cl- (p<0.05) and BUN (p<0.001) in 2- and in 10-12 month-old mice; and (3) for WBC, RBC, HGB, HCT and PLT (p<0.05) during the 1 year life span.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results indicate that metabolic variations in C57BL/6J, 129SV/EV and C3H/HeJ mice after therapeutic intervention should be evaluated against gender- and age-dependent reference intervals.
Mazzaccara
Cristina
C
Dipartimento di Biochimica e Biotecnologie Mediche, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II and CEINGE-Biotecnologie Avanzate S.C.aR.L., Naples, Italy.
Labruna
Giuseppe
G
Cito
Gennaro
G
Scarfò
Marzia
M
De Felice
Mario
M
Pastore
Lucio
L
Sacchetti
Lucia
L
D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D001671:Biochemistry / Q000379:methods; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H / Q000097:blood*; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL / Q000097:blood*; D009154:Mutation; D012107:Research Design; D012737:Sex Factors; D013045:Species Specificity; D013997:Time Factors